Introduction
Driving through Dubai one is inundated with the view of cranes
and construction sites, however, if a closer look is taken it
becomes increasingly more evident that many, if not most of these
sites are inactive and the buildings are left skeletons of the
creations that they were meant to be. Project financing in the GCC
region has seen a rapid dive in recent times, and the feeling of
the effects is throughout the GCC.
Due to a concerted drop in the oil prices, there was a resultant
shortfall in government revenues and budget deficits across the
region. The GCC region is suffering a reported two hundred and
seventy billion dollars (USD) project finance gap. However, the
region has announced a slew of infrastructure programmes, and this
can be attributed to external sources keeping the funding tap open
to infrastructure projects. With governments taking a cautious
approach and only focusing on critical projects.
