The Oil Slump Is Emptying the Stores of Dubai
Gold traders in the Dubai Gold Souk. Now, with crude almost half the price of a year ago, gold buyers are harder to find as Middle East demand for the metal slows and the city sees a drop-off in some visitors. Photographer: Duncan Chard/Bloomberg
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The historic Dubai marketplace that calls itself the City of Gold is glittering less these days.
Under streets and alleys covered by roofs to protect window shoppers from the intense desert sun, more than 300 stores peddle everything from ingots to Bedouin jewelry. The Dubai Gold Souk had become one of the largest such marketplaces, offering tax-free precious metal, as Persian Gulf oil wealth ballooned in the past few decades.