Dubai seeks debt delay

Dubai will ask creditors of two of its flagship firms for a standstill on debt worth billions of dollars as a first step towards restructuring Dubai World, the conglomerate which spearheaded the emirate’s breakneck growth. The government’s announcement on Wednesday sent the cost of insuring Dubai’s debt against default soaring and bond prices tumbling. State-run Dubai World has $59 billion of liabilities, its subsidiary Nakheel said in August, a large proportion of Dubai’s total debt of $80 billion.