Dubai back to dazzling form?

DUBAI - Six years ago, Dubai's economy was in the doldrums.

Property prices fell by more than half.

Hundreds of building projects were abandoned and thousands of construction workers and other workers laid off.

Now the good times are back, it seems.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is the Arab world's second-largest economy and had a growth of about 4.5 per cent last year.

And the emirate vowed the world by shattering the record for the largest pyrotechnic display on New Year's Eve with a show involving more than half a million fireworks, Guinness World Records said yesterday.

The display spanned 94km of the Dubai coast, which boasts an archipelago of man-made islands and Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, Guinness said.

US firm Fireworks by Grucci designed the display, using 100 computers and 200 technicians to synchronise the pyrotechnics at a reported cost of around US$6 million (S$7.5 million), AFP reported.

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