house rents have increased 10 folds or so in last few years. what are they getting at. building new houses, demolishing relatively new ones....they should rather develop underdeveloped areas into flourishing cities say umsaid, dukhan, they could do with a fair bit of polish. need a few malls, recreation area similar to corniche.. ah well with the asian games gone i dont see whom they are gonna feed those expensive office spaces and residential apartments. They are doing a good job of scaring away the workforce who are having a hard time tugging on both ends where its strictly living vs salary. The idea is most expatriates do come here for earning and not spending. when expenditure exceeds income, its high time we say goodbye.

look at the vicious circle. high rent> high price of commodity> push towards increase in salaries>lesser profit margin for international and local companies

the riyal may turn into yen if this trend goes on. you will end up paying 30 to 40 qrs for a kilo of banana by 2008 or so.