Gulf’s woes bode ill for the oil and gas we need

Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report on Monday contained at least one item that raised not a flicker of attention at Westminster but which will have been keenly noticed far away in the Gulf: he has decided that Islamic bonds will not form part of the Government’s borrowing programme in the near future.

The scrapping of Britain’s first sukuk (a loan instrument that complies with Islamic strictures on the immorality of interest) will be seen as a slap in the face, a cold shoulder at a time when Islamic financial institutions are being buffeted by a catastrophe of real estate, the seeds of which were planted in America and Europe.


Dubai is not bust, but government debt of $80 billion (