Development projects already announced are on track and virtually no downsizing in terms of staffing levels has been reported across the banking and property sectors, industry executives say.
According to the UAE Central Bank the country's gross domestic product is set to fall to the low-single-digit level in 2009 due to the global financial crisis. The national economy is poised to slow down in 2009 and 2010 but there is no panicking and it is business as usual.
Emirates NBD Group, the largest bank in the Middle East, said that there haven't been any layoffs by the bank and none are in the offing. Bankers at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Union National Bank also deny their banks have plans to lay off staff in the near term.
Executives at Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate, two of the top real estate master developers say their projects remain on track.
In Abu Dhabi, Aldar's development of real estate projects across its portfolio is estimated to have exceeded $72 billion in terms of value. Sorouh is executing projects worth about Dh70 billion across Abu Dhabi.
While globally the trend is to layoff employees to cut costs, some of the companies and banks in Abu Dhabi are actually looking to hire more staff. 'We expect to hire more people next year,' said Samer F. Abu Hijleh, chief operating officer of Sorouh.
Executives at NMC Group, an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank say they are adding more people to their team to boost their operational efficiency and profitability.
Although there have been reports that Abu Dhabi-listed First Gulf Bank (FGB), the UAE's fourth largest lender by market value, is considering a cut to its workforce.