The vibrancy of Qatar’s capital market makes the country as a preferred destination for investors across the globe. Various reports published from in the past few years have confirmed the strength of Qatari capital market.
Recently, Qatar was ranked first in the Arab world and seventh globally out of 128 countries at the Global Finance Safety index for 2019.
The index ranked Qatar in terms of investment safety in this advanced rank according to many factors such as war, peace, personal security and the risks of natural disasters.
The index measures safety in various fields to be collected and analysed according to standard scores that give the overall ranking of countries, providing a comprehensive view of the economic security of each country.
According to the list of countries monitored by the index, Qatar is the only Arab country to be ranked as the top 20 in the Global Finance rankings by occupying seventh place after Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Portugal, Austria and Norway, respectively.
The strength of Qatari capital market is a result of proactive steps taken by concerned authorities in Qatar. Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) yesterday approved a set of minimum requirements for investor relation practices that will become part of QSE’s Rulebook, which will further increase investors’ trust on Qatar’s stock market.
The IR Rules, which will be mandatory for companies listed on the QSE, will be introduced as a new section in the QSE Rulebook and will be valid for all listed companies as of October 1, this year.
In order to better attract foreign financial powerhouses, Qatar Petroleum (QP) had enhanced the foreign ownership limits (FOLs) in its listed subsidiaries up to 49 percent. It also saw other entities hike the FOL to 49 percent.
The year 2018 witnessed the listing of two exchange traded funds (ETFs) and also saw the advent of another QP subsidiary Qatar Aluminium Manufacturing Company with a big bang, thus taking the total number of constituents to 46.
All these achievements reflect Qatar’s rising status at a regional and global level. It is an indication of the continuous development and modernisation process pursued by the State.
