Built for a global economy, Dubai now threatened by virus

Built for a global economy, Dubai now threatened by virus

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Dubai built a city of skyscrapers and artificial archipelagos on the promise of globalization, creating itself as a vital hub for the free movement of trade, people and money worldwide - all things that have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.. With events canceled, flights grounded and investment halted, this sheikdom in the United Arab Emirates is threatened both by the virus and a growing economic crisis.. Dubai faces looming debt payments that stem from its 2009 financial crisis.. Officials like former Dubai finance director Nasser al-Shaikh have sought to describe the city-state's sovereign debt as separate from those of state-linked firms, a distinction authorities also sought to make in the 2009 crisis.. Dubai at this time also changed the name of the under-construction world's tallest building from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa, after Abu Dhabi ruler and UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.. Seeing an opportunity in its location, Dubai soon began re-exporting tax-free gold into India - or profiting from the precious metal being smuggled, as Indian officials described it for decades.. Image: In this Friday, May 8, 2020 photo, people look out at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building,