DOHA: Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) is set to launch the 2013 Foreign Investment (FI) Survey today. This will be the second FI survey in the State of Qatar. The first FI survey was conducted in March 2010 covering 2008 and 2009.

The main objective of the month-long is survey is to collect comprehensive data on foreign investment positions and transactions for the years 2010 and 2011, and summary estimates for 2012. 

The results of this survey will help improve the quality of statistics on the different types of foreign investment inward and outward, in particular, foreign direct investment (FDI). The survey results will also help in the setting up of the appropriate environment to attract more investment and enhance development of existing investments.

During the data collection period, enumerators will be visiting a large number of companies. QSA relies heavily on the cooperation of all respondents for the supply of reliable and accurate data on their foreign investments.

The QSA’s first Foreign Investment Survey found that  Qatar’s total inward foreign investment increased by 36.4 percent in 2009, reaching QR171.4bn (48.1 percent of GDP) as against  the corresponding figure of QR125.6bn (29.9 percent of GDP) in 2008. The survey found that the stocks of foreign direct investment (FDI) were at QR94.3bn at the end of 2009, which showed a growth of 45.7 percent when compared to QR64.7bn in 2008.

A key finding of the first Foreign Investment Survey was that despite the decline of liquidity in global markets in 2009, Qatar continued to witness foreign investment flow by QR45.7bn during the year. Five top countries that contributed to inward foreign direct investment stocks in 2009 were the US (26.4 percent), Netherlands (26.1 percent), the UK (11.3 percent), UAE (7.8 percent), Japan (7.0 percent) and South Korean (3.6 percent), which together accounted for over 80 percent of the total FDI.

Further, the survey had revealed that total direct investment of Qatari private sector at the end of 2009 recorded QR38.9bn compared to QR27.2bn by the end of 2008. Qatari private sector invested mainly in four sectors - “Finance, Insurance, Real estate and Business Services”; “Mining and Quarrying”; “Construction”;  and “Manufacturing”.

The Peninsula