Dubai investment arm incurs billions in losses amid pandemic

  • Date: 22-Jun-2021
  • Source: Arab Weekly
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:UAE
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Dubai investment arm incurs billions in losses amid pandemic

DUBAI – Dubai's state-owned sovereign wealth fund announced Tuesday a net loss of $5.1 billion over the past year, highlighting the toll that the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on the company's vast assets and the uncertainty around the emirate's post-pandemic recovery.

The Investment Corporation of Dubai, (ICD) the huge holding company behind many of the emirate's industrial powerhouses, reported revenue of $37 billion in 2020, a sharp drop of over 40% compared to the year before.

It marks the first loss in years for the investment arm of the Dubai government, which boasts a range of assets, including the Middle East's largest airline, Emirates, the lucrative Dubai Duty Free and master-developer Emaar Properties, which built the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. The firm turned a profit of $4.9 billion in 2019.