Welcome to the CI Middle
East Prepaid special feature. The extreme highs and lows
Dubai has experienced over the last few years have made it a
fascinating case study in boom and bust economics. In 2009 it
looked like Dubai’s dream was over, as the economy fell into deep
recession. But over the past 12 months, the Emirate has shown
itself to be more resilient than many predicted.
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) predicts the UAE economy as a whole will grow by 2.4 percent
in 2010, although for Dubai itself, the predicted growth rate is a
more modest 0.5 percent.
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The US Institute of International
Finance (IIF) predicts rather more solid growth of between 1 to 1.5
percent, fired primarily by a rebound in the Emirate’s property
sector.
Amid this economic uncertainty it
is no surprise that the market for prepaid products, already a
major growth industry in the Middle East, would really begin to
take shape.
With that in mind, Cards
International brought together some of the UAE’s most
influential payments professionals for a round table discussion,
sponsored by Visa.
The prepaid market in the UAE,
while still developing, is advanced in many ways. The vast majority
of consumers are familiar with, and using, prepaid products in some
form, and innovations by banks and issuers are proving
successful.
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By GlobalDataIn short, despite (or perhaps in
part because of) the Emirate’s economic turbulence, the UAE’s
prepaid market appears to be ready to truly take off.
See also:
So
far, so good in Middle Eastern prepaid
UAE
faces credit default challenges
The
Middle East opens up for prepaid
