Foreign currency exchange houses in Dubai have recorded an average four percent increase in transactions in the first week of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), and expect this figure to climb to 15 percent by the end of the second week of the festival.
The bulk of the deals done by exchange houses figured currencies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries through demand for United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dirhams at their branches located in shopping malls and DSF venues. The GCC currencies include the Omani Riyal, Saudi Riyal, Kuwait Riyal, Qatari Riyal, Bahraini Dinar and the Emirati Dirham.
Sharif Kasrawi of International Exchange branch at Muraqqabat Street said: “Business has been good in the first week and we expect to do even better this week. Saudi and Omani Riyals are the main currencies exchanged at our branch. 75 percent of our deals are currencies of the GCC countries. This is natural because of the large presence of GCC visitors in Dubai during this period. As a result, there is a big demand for UAE Dirhams. DSF, in fact, accounts for 20 percent of all our foreign currency deals every year”.
Hamdi Abdul Wahab of Al-Ghurair Exchange said: “We have been recording a gradual increase in our foreign currency transactions. In the first five days of DSF we had an increase of between three to four percent and by the end of that week it had risen to between eight to nine percent. Based on this we expect to record a 10 to 15 percent increase by the midway stage of DSF. GCC currencies accounted for 80 percent of our transactions followed by US dollars and Euro currencies”.
He added: “We expect hectic buying of the UAE Dirham this week as we understand that hotels are planning to accommodate a great number of guests who will be visiting Dubai soon. We also get a lot of business out of foreign delegates attending the various conferences that are being held in Dubai during DSF”.
Salahuddin Syed Shaikh of Al-Fardan Exhange said: “We have had a high increase in the transactions made, particularly at our branches in the shopping malls and areas featuring DSF activities. This is mainly due to the various promotions offered to DSF shoppers and visitors. Right now there is strong dealings in GCC currencies but we expect currencies like the US dollar and Euro to make a big improvement in the last week of DSF when the Dubai World Cup is held”. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
