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60 Billion $ does not sound like much given that we have had so many Trillion $ debt problems. But the Dubai World move to seek a six month extension on the 60 B $ owed sent shock waves across the world from London to New York touching every major stock exchange on the way, including Hong Kong and Mumbai.
The signals on the Dubai slowdown has been evident for some time as this blog noted in January. Normally frenetic construction has been almost at a standstill for about a year in Dubai but the mere talk of debt re-scheduling, not an actual default seems to have put irrational fear into stock markets across much of the globe.
I guess that Dubai is one of those hopeful places in the world that encourages business optimism from Europe to Central Asia,the Middle East ,Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. In fact, Dubai beckons workers from Philippines and thereby impacts confidence in East Asia as well.
Dubai is looking to regional oil rich neighbors like Abu Dhabi for a bail out. Truly Dubai is "too big to fail" and I am sure something will work out very soon.