Qatar’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) has joined the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), which is a step in the right direction. The move will help in attracting Foreign Direct Investment in Qatar. The newly formed IPA was established to boost Qatar’s FDI by providing international investors with a simple and streamlined process for establishing businesses in the country.
WAIPA is an international non-governmental organization that provides opportunities for investment promotion agencies worldwide to network and exchange best practices in investment promotion. IPA serves as a complete source of investment solutions for FDI in all of Qatar’s priority sectors. Its membership of WAIPA will provide the Agency access to resources and significant advances in FDI facilitation, and the opportunity to network and share effective strategies in attracting investments.
Investments in Qatar have gone through a 6.6 percent increase in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the corresponding quarter of last year (Q1 2018), according to the quarterly FDI report issued by the Planning and Statistics Authority and Qatar Central Bank.
Qatar’s economy has shown resilience by registering continuous growth despite illegal siege imposed by blockading countries. As per the Qatar Economic Outlook released by Planning and Statistics Authority, real GDP is projected to grow at average rate of 2.8 percent during 2018-2020.
According to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) report, payment systems in Qatar comprising of retail and wholesale segment grew in comparison to the previous year, both in value and in volume terms. The size of Qatar’s payment system was QR4.1 trillion in 2018.
Also, shares in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QE) have risen significantly, with the current account surplus increasing and the country’s large foreign exchange reserves rebuilt.
More recently, total reserves in the banking system remained stable at QR80.3bn in July, which showed a 9.7 percent increase from July 2018 and a 43.7 percent increase since the second month of the blockade in July 2017, Al Byraq Center for Economic and Financial Studies noted in its weekly analysis. The net foreign assets increased by 52.3 percent to QR139.97bn in July 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. In its report, the QCB reiterated that the Qatari economy was completely out of the initial negative effects of the economic blockade imposed since June 2017.
According to QCB, liquidity improved in banking system supported by benign fiscal position and current account balance. Improvements in stock market also boosted the operating environment of the banking sector. All the financial parameters show that Qatar is set to become economic power house in the region.
