EDITOR'S TAKE: With debt woes (probably) behind it, Dubai suddenly looks more attractive

Few people on the ground in the GCC would suggest that the ongoing shenanigans around the restructuring of Dubai World's debt has cast a particularly long shadow over the financial sector in the region.

Those outside of the Middle East would disagree, however, and the implications for Dubai as an internationally recognised financial centre - and attractive place for western financial professionals to work - have been significant.

In the eyes of the western media, not only were Dubai's ambitions to challenge London, New York and Singapore as a financial centre scuppered, but it also had to fight for its regional crown from the likes of Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

After months of negotiation, Dubai World has now reached a deal in principle to restructure its $23.5bn worth of debt with its creditors.

In theory, this should draw a line under the incident and allow the Arab emirate to begin the long walk down the road to economic recovery after a tough 18 months.

But how much has Dubai's image as the place to be for bankers based in the Gulf been tarnished anyway, and how viable are the claims of the new pretenders?

Abu Dhabi would finally be able to truly establish itself as a true global financial centre; Qatar - so long a relative minnow in the sector - would create as many as 5,200 finance jobs this year

and become the new mecca for expat bankers. And Saudi, the sleeping giant of the GCC, would finally flex its muscles and attract deal-hungry investment bankers to its borders.

Certainly, the UAE has been the worst affected when it comes to redundancies, with 16% of all cuts hitting there in 2009, according to a report by GulfTalent, and 13% of headcount reductions across the GCC occurring in the banking sector.

It would be foolhardy to suggest that Dubai is offering financial sector professionals bountiful employment prospects again. What is open to debate, however, is just how great its fall from grace has been since that dark day in November 2009 when markets plummeted after Dubai's debt bombshell.

After an initial retrenchment, one large regional financial services recruiter told me this week that for the first time in six months, Dubai has more live job vacancies than any other Gulf state. Don't write the old dog off just yet.