Dubai
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Economy
Main article: Economy of Dubai
Dubai's gross domestic product as of 2011 was US $83.4 billion.
Although Dubai's economy was built on the back of the oil
industry, revenues from oil and natural gas currently account for
less than 7% of the emirate's revenues. It is estimated that Dubai
produces 50,000 to 70,000 barrels (11,000 m3) of oil a day and
substantial quantities of gas from offshore fields. The emirate's
share in UAE's gas revenues is about 2%. Dubai's oil reserves
have diminished significantly and are expected to be exhausted
in 20 years. Real estate and construction (22.6%), trade (16%),
entrepôt (15%) and financial services (11%) are the largest
contributors to Dubai's economy.[31] Dubai's top exporting
destinations include India (US$ 5.8 billion), Switzerland (US$
2.37 billion) and Saudi Arabia (US$ 0.57 billion). Dubai's top
re-exporting destinations include India (US$ 6.53 billion), Iran
(US$ 5.8 billion) and Iraq (US$ 2.8 billion). The emirate's top
import sources are India (US$ 12.55 billion), China (US$
11.52 billion) and the United States (US$ 7.57 billion). As of
2009, India was Dubai's largest trade partner.
World Trade Centre. Dubai has established itself as a
prominent regional hub for finance, trade, tourism, and
shopping
Historically, Dubai and its twin across Dubai Creek, Deira
(independent of Dubai City at that time), were important ports of
call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centres were headquartered in the port
area. Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. Dubai has a free trade in gold
and, until the 1990s, was the hub of a "brisk smuggling trade"[] of gold ingots to India, where gold import was
restricted. Dubai's Jebel Ali port, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbour in the world and was
ranked seventh globally for the volume of container traffic it supports. Dubai is also a hub for service industries such
as information technology and finance, with industry-specific free zones throughout the city. Dubai Internet City,
combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free
Zone Authority), is one such enclave, whose members include IT firms such as Hewlett-Packard, EMC Corporation,
Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, BBC, Reuters, Sky News
and AP.
The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based, oil-reliant economy to one that is service- and
tourism-oriented made property more valuable, resulting in the property appreciation from 2004 to 2006. A
longer-term assessment of Dubai's property market, however, showed depreciation; some properties lost as much as
64% of their value from 2001 to November 2008. The \