DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A top Dubai finance official said the emirate fully expected fallout from its debt problems and assured foreign creditors that Dubai World's request to postpone payment on some of its $60 billion in debt was "carefully planned."

The comments by Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai's Supreme Fiscal Committee, came as world markets reacted in shock to what some analysts indicated amounted to a default Dubai World, the city-state's key engine of growth with interests ranging from ports to real estate.

Ahmed said the emirate's leadership thought long and hard, weighing creditors' interests, before announcing they were seeking a "standstill" on Dubai World's debt until at least May.

"Our intervention in Dubai World was carefully planned," Ahmed said in the statement released late Thursday. "The government is spearheading the restructuring of this commercial operation in the full knowledge of how the markets would react."

The Dubai government, in a brief statement issued Wednesday — on the eve of a three-day Islamic feast — said it would request the delay in Dubai World's debts, as well as those of real estate arm Nakheel, which has a roughly $3.5 billion Islamic bond coming due in December.

The fallout from the brief statement came swiftly, and was felt around the world. Oil prices dropped near US$74 a barrel in Asia today as investors curtailed their risky bets on commodities amid uncertainty over the extent of Dubai's financial woes.

"We understand the concerns of the market and the creditors in particular," Ahmed also said.

He called the Dubai World's debt freeze request a "sensible business decision" and said Dubai's leadership had to intervene when it did "because of the need to take decisive action to address its particular debt burden."