Dubai borrowers ‘skip’ their debts by leaving the country

Dubai’s slowing economy, the rout in commodities, and strict debt repayment laws are reviving a phenomenon that symbolised the emirate’s crash in 2009, ‘skips’, or business owners who quietly leave the country to avoid punishment for defaulting on loans.

A rising number of smaller and medium-sized company owners are abandoning the United Arab Emirates without repaying debt, according to Emirates NBD, the country’s second-largest bank.

People in the SME sector may have left behind 5bn dirhams (€1.27bn) of loans this year, according to Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, chief executive of Mashreqbank and chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.