The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has registered 1,000 companies on its platform, reflecting the trust of companies and investors on Qatar remains intact. Despite challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, the QFC is on way to achieve this year’s target of registering 250 companies in 2020.
“We announced in 2018 that Qatar Financial Center is working towards achieving the 1,000 mark. We are in 2020 and to date we have registered more than 1,000 companies,” Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Financial Centre told The Peninsula. “But our target has to do with attracting and achieving 1,000 active companies. So we are still on the right track. We are on the way to achieve our targets,” he added.
QFC had set a target of registering 1,000 firms in its 2017-22 strategy. The QFC ended the year 2019 on a positive note registering a growth of 35 percent, reaching 71 percent of its strategic 2022 target of 1,000 firms being registered on its platform. The growth story of QFC will continue this year also.
“2020 has been also a positive year. We are targeting 250 companies as of 2020. Hopefully by the end of the year, we will achieve almost 1,000 active companies, so we are well on the way to achieving our 2020 targets for the financial sector,” he said.
“2016 onwards has been our greatest growth stories in the QFC because we have taken a more aggressive approach when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment. So our growth rate has been maintaining at around 10 to 15 percent since 2015. We are still achieving that target despite the COVID-19 situation in 2020,” explained Al Jaida.
Talking about country’s economy, the QFC chief said that Qatar’s economy has shown resilience and performed positively, helped by supporting measures announced by the government.
“Qatar’s economy has been positive despite COVID-19. Very aggressive measures were taken so that businesses and small and medium businesses in the economy can sustain their business. Lot of that helped alleviate, the business environment. But if we look at the fiscal numbers, Qatar is probably the only country in the GCC which will have a fiscal surplus,” he added. “All in all I think we are still on track in terms of achieving $234bn of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2021,”
The rating agencies S&P and Moody’s have come out with a stable outlook for Qatar’s economy, which is not the case for other GCC and regional countries.
Also, Qatar is the least impacted, according to IMF and World Bank reports.
Going forward the QFC will continue attract companies from across the world.
“In terms of target markets for the Qatar financial sector, we have announced for us, the New Emerging Belt Initiative (NEBI), these are the countries that Qatar is closely strategic with Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait and Oman. These are target markets or companies who are established in the Qatar financial sector,” said Al Jaida.
“However, in terms of the attraction for foreign direct investment, again, the globe was our market. We’ve seen it pick up in Asian companies recently, but if you look at the portfolio, we can see it still consists of mostly European and American companies,” he added.
He added that the recent interest from Asia is in line with Qatar’s strategic partnerships when it comes to the energy global markets.
The year 2019 was a momentous one for QFC. It started the year with the unveiling of its 2022 strategy.
The year also saw the launch of the Investment Promotion Agency of Qatar (IPAQ), which is registered on the QFC platform and aims to be a single and complete source for investment solutions in Qatar by attracting FDI in all of the country’s priority sectors.
The key highlights of the strategy include creation of four strategic clusters namely Sports, Digital, Financial and Media; and a New Emerging Belt Initiative.
Major achievements of the year included obtaining the Council of Ministers’ approval for QFC companies to participate in government tenders. QFC also developed an Asset Management Sector focus with a strong network of Qatari investment managers and tax benefits to attract new asset managers and funds.
