Number of financial services workers in Dubai tipped to fall by 30%

2009 looks like it could be a rough year for Dubai. After years of attracting more and more expat workers, their numbers are predicted to dwindle this year, and those working the emirate's financial sector could fall by up to 30%.

This bleak prognosis comes from an EFG Hermes report, which predicts the number of expat workers in Dubai will fall by 17%.

So far, while increasingly frequent, the number of redundancies in the financial sector have been relatively small, especially in comparison to the deep cuts in Western markets. However, EFG Hermes says that the number of people working in certain industries - largely financial services and real estate - will fall by 30% this year, which is driving the shrinking volumes of expatriate workers.

"We forecast negative net population growth in Dubai in 2009 with the population declining to 1.49 million from 1.79 million in 2008 (17 percent decline)," says the report.

While the official line is that more people are entering Dubai than leaving, EFG Hermes says a large number of expat workers are simply staying on to allow their children to finish school.

Expect an exodus this summer then...