Abu Dhabi’s economic growth will accelerate next year as emirate seeks to revive some delayed projects, including a plan to build a branch of the Guggenheim museum, a senior official said.
The emirate, which sits on 6 per cent of global oil reserves, plans to award contracts for the museum by the end of this year or early in 2017, said Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of the Department of Economic Development. The Guggenheim will be located in the emirate’s cultural hub on Saadiyat island, along with a branch of the Louvre, and the national Zayed museums, he said in an interview on Sunday.
Like other major oil exporters in the region, Abu Dhabi authorities slashed spending when crude prices plummeted to below $30 a barrel. The belt-tightening measures drew the attention of the International Monetary Fund, which said last month that the emirate, home to the world’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, can afford a more gradual fiscal consolidation.
“The worst is behind us,” said Mr Al Mansoori, who is also a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, the emirate’s top decision-making body. “Our budget is still strong. The majority of projects are still there and there are other smaller projects which are moving. The economy is moving.”
He expects growth to expand as much as 5 per cent in 2017, from about 2 per cent this year.
Abu Dhabi cut spending by a fifth in 2015 and plans a further 17 per cent reduction this year, according to the government’s latest bond prospectus. That’s more than a proposed 14-per cent cut in Saudi Arabia, which is facing widening budget deficits and must meet the demands of a much bigger population.
The emirate’s credit rating was maintained in May at Aa2 at Moody’s Investors Service, citing “very large fiscal buffers.” Fiscal consolidation could slow amid “pressure” to support growth, Moody’s economist Mathias Angonin said last month.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
