The media has swopped on the story about debt-ridden Dubai dying in the sands because it makes for excellent headlines. However, in focusing on those losing their jobs, their incomes, their right to remain in Dubai and therefore their homes and lifestyle as well, the media has failed to focus on the fact that there are still places in the world that are booming.
It’s time to focus on the positives in life we feel – after all, if you’re living in Dubai and you’re worried about money, work, maintaining your lifestyle or even where you can go now and ride the next wave of the boom, you need to discover where in the world there is potential!
So, who cares about Dubai dying – let’s shift the focus and look at where’s next on the boom scale. Whether you’re looking for a place to work, invest, live a fantastic lifestyle or just somewhere where there’s bags of potential or wealth, here for your contemplation is part one of our shortlist of locations in the developing world where you can now go in search of your fortune. We’d love to hear from readers in the featured locations or those considering a relocation to an emerging boomer, so do write in with your own stories and comments…
The way the stories about Dubai’s debt-riddled status have been reported in the media you’d believe it was the last place on earth where anyone could earn any money or live a fantastic lifestyle abroad! What many have failed to realise is that expatriates by their very nature are freedom seekers who can go in search of a new or just a different life anywhere they want to! Those in Dubai will be well aware that if their life isn’t working out in the UAE through no fault of their own, they’re free to return home or go on in search of their dream elsewhere.
If you’re currently stuck in the sinking sands around Dubai and you want to get out and find your fortune somewhere else in the world, we’re going to do a regional round-up of where in the world you can go to next to find wealth through employment, investment opportunities or just a fantastic place to land up and live the famed expat lifestyle. In part one we’re going to focus on Asia and Eastern Europe. Still to come are South America, Africa and the Middle East…
Asia
China - China is apparently “on full tilt — booming is an understatement these days,” according to John Bonnell who’s the director of Asia vehicle forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates. He bases his opinion on the fact that consumerism is so strong in China now, fuelled by massive increases in personal disposable wealth, that for the first time, the Chinese will have bought more cars this year than the Americans! If you want in on a nation that is rapidly advancing, where there is demand for Western trained expertise in multiple sectors of the business economy and where there is room for personal wealth advancement thanks to the range of employment opportunities on offer, China is for you.
One word of warning however, there are those out there who say that China’s massive advancement is slowing down, and whilst there are still opportunities even for investors to profit, they need to know that the immaturity across the likes of the Chinese equities market can lead to massive potential volatility. What’s more, the fundamentals on which growth is developing are untested, unstable and potentially therefore rocky. So do tread carefully…
Vietnam - Without wanting to get political about it, Britons have an advantage when it comes to Vietnam. The nation is not an attractive one for Americans because not enough years have yet passed for the war to have faded in people’s memory, therefore for Brits, it is relatively untouched by American influence. What’s more, Vietnam is booming a little off the back of China because China is becoming too expensive for many manufacturers. The nation has managed to record an average of 7.5% growth in economic terms for the past decade…and the most recent survey of global investment destinations from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development puts Vietnam’s attractiveness in the top division for 2009-2011.
These are all particularly positive reasons to consider the country as one for potential investment…what’s more, the expat scene is growing apace and there is plenty to get involved with if you decided to move to Vietnam for work reasons.
Eastern Europe
Russia - According to the latest Expat Explorer Survey from HSBC, Russia is the number one place in the world for high salaries at the current time. This is a very good reason for any expats recovering from their Dubai hangover to consider the nation as their next destination of choice! The nation is enjoying oil-powered economic growth and in turn this is fuelling demand for offices, apartments, hotels and shopping malls, according to a recent report in the New York Times. As the nation’s citizens become increasingly capitalistic at the same time, this has a knock on effect and greater wealth is created and aspirations rise. Russia has employment, surging economic advancement, it has all the trappings of the famed expat lifestyle in many high employment areas, and it has greater room for growth meaning it could be at least a medium-term bet for relocating expats searching for somewhere affluent to lay their hat.
Georgia - Georgia is very investment friendly, it’s also a country that’s relatively easy to get into and to secure a visa to live and work there. They have improved their ranking on many international indices over the past 5 – 10 years so that it is now a nation considered much improved for investment, economic freedom, global competitiveness and even transparency. The conflict with Russia did nothing to dent the overall attractiveness of the nation, and the local people in Georgia are getting very wealthy, in relative terms, very quickly! Inward foreign direct investment is massive, economic growth is strong and positive and Georgia has a business friendly, pro-Western stance according to Fleet Street Invest which states: “Georgia’s biggest economic asset is its strategic location between Europe and Central Asia. That makes it a vital link in the “New Silk Road.” This is the emerging overland trade and transport network that links Central and East Asia with Europe.”
If you want in on an emerging success story with perhaps the longest legs of all in terms of time to run, Georgia could be the next expatriate hotspot?
Dubai maybe dying or it may just be experiencing a negative yet corrective adjustment in its economic fortunes that will stand it in better stead for the long-term – but if you’re an expatriate who doesn’t want to hang around and find out where Dubai is headed, there are plenty of other emerging pockets of potential in the world. In the second part of our ‘Who Cares About Dubai Dying? Where’s Next?’ series we’ll focus on South America and the Middle East before offering up a final chapter on emerging potential across Africa.