Dubai's department of finance said Thursday evening it had appointed Rothschild, the investment bank, to advise the government on its recently announced $20bn (€14.9bn) bond program.

The government, in a release, said the bank would help it establish a "financial support fund," to be wholly owned by the government and funded by proceeds from a new debt-issuance programme. The programme, unveiled in February, is aimed at refinancing Dubai's large international debt load and pumping some of the city's state-owned companies with liquidity to pay their bills.