Explosive growth in economic and political power ensured that the past 10 years set the foundations for what many analysts predict will be the Asian Century as the world tilts firmly eastwards. Observers say the world's two most populous countries-China and India-appear on course to define the decades to come after the American Century and the British Century before that.

Dubai World’s plan to delay repaying a huge Islamic bond issue may damage the image of Shariah finance and bring into focus the legal viability of Islamic banking. Dubai’s assets may be virtually untouchable, so any holders of bonds issued by flagship property firm Nakheel that take legal action to recover potential losses could be wasting their time, lawyers said.

International fund managers say they are considering reshuffling portfolios or even exiting Dubai after the government announced it would ask creditors at its flagship firms Dubai World and developer Nakheel to delay repayment of its debt. Dubai-based fund managers expect international investors will reposition their portfolios after the opening of the local stock markets.

India’s premier Manmohan Singh promised to step up financial reforms to drive economic growth as he rolled out the welcome mat for foreign investors. India is “better placed than any time in the recent past to push the reform process forward,” Singh told more than 600 delegates from around the globe at the World Economic Forum conference.

“In this new global economic architecture, the centre of economic activity has shifted from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, making Asia an important engine of the global economy,” remarked Kamal Nath, India’s Minister of Road Transport 
and Highways. “In the next few years, Asia will be the engine of global growth.”

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its World Investment Report 2009, that Kuwait sovereign fund assets shrank by $94 billion last year due to the economic meltdown. The report also said that four Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Kuwait, lost a total of $350 billion last year.

Istithmar World, Dubai may be the first sovereign wealth fund to liquidate after a $27bn spending spree financed largely with borrowed money, people briefed on the matter said. Unlike government-controlled funds in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, flush with cash from oil production, or in China, backed by export earnings, Istithmar fuelled purchases such as the takeover of Barneys New York by borrowing as much as 90% of the money, the people said.

JEDDAH: The board of executive directors of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to finance new development projects worth $244.4 million in Sudan, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Niger, an IDB statement said.

KUWAIT: Overall net profits of Kuwaiti firms listed on the Kuwait Stock exchange plummeted by more than 90 percent last year due to the global economic meltdown, an economic study said.

Qatar’s inflation fell 0.79% in June mainly on easing of rents and lower prices of food as well as garments. The consumer price index (CPI) for the first six months of this year showed an overall downward trend with the general CPI 2.6% lower than in January, the Qatar Statistical Authority (QSA) said. The average price level fell in June after rising consecutively in April and May.

The Kingdom-based global investment and asset management group, Investcorp said its full-year profits to June slumped by half when compared to the fiscal 2007, as the global credit crisis hit its deal volumes and investment returns.

Omani officials are considering a new law that will address potential problems in the real estate industry arising as a result of the global financial crisis, according to the recent GCC real estate report by Global Investment House.