SHRUGGING off the impact of challenges posed by pandemic outbreak, Qatar’s stock market has delivered impressive performance. Showing a strong start in the new year, the QE Index, has risen signif-icantly in January 2021.
The QE Index has surged over 800 points in January this year making it the best monthly gain in over a decade for investors.
The QE Index ended at 12,498 points on January 31 against the closing of 11,625 points on December 30 last year, marking a monthly gain of 873 points or 7.5 percent- which is the highest ever monthly rise in over 10 years. This impressive performance demon-strates the resilience and strength of Qatar’s stock market and growing trust of investors.
The rally in Qatar’s stock market was fuelled by sharp economic recovery aided by persistent fall in Omicron cases, rise oil prices, gains in regional and global stock markets and expectations of better results from local companies.
Despite challenging environment, Qatari com-panies have delivered strong earnings growth throughout the last year. This is possible due to the wise vision of Qatar’s leadership and proactive pol-icies executed by government departments. Qatar has taken several measures in the past which has made its economy resilient and strong.
The prospects for Qatar’s economy are bright as predicted by many global institutions. Qatar’s economy is expected to continue its growth momentum in the current year, despite challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The local economy is expected to witness a robust recovery this year.
Several global organisations expect Qatar’s economy to grow by more than 2 percent in 2021 according to the latest Qatar Economic Outlook Report 2021-2023.
While the global economy is expected to slow down this year, Qatar’s economy is likely to grow strongly this year and next year, according to a recent report by the World Bank. Qatar’s real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to grow by 4.8 percent in 2022 and 4.9 percent in 2023, as per the latest Global Economic Prospects report released by the World Bank.
The consensus forecasts by a number of interna-tional institutions, organizations, and banks showed that the Qatari economy will undergo recovery during 2021 and 2022, with a predicted average growth rate of about 2.8 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. The optimism by global organisations about Qatar demonstrates the strength and resilience of the local economy.
