The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) yesterday released it annual report that shows its achievements in 2018. Highlights of the report include an increase in key QFC partnerships, licensing over 150 firms, successful roadshows in important markets across the globe, new laws creating a more conducive business platform, and expanding its digital reach to 50 industries in 183 countries. Overall, the centre has had a year which was full of accomplishments.
QFC now has over 600 firms registered on its platform which is a 31 percent increase from the previous year. QFC’s achievement and accomplishments mirror the growth in Qatar’s economy, which is growing steadily, overcoming several challenges.
The 2018 United Nations report has noted a 27 percent increase in FDI inflows to Qatar between 2016 and 2017.
Qatar’s economy has proved its resilience and attractiveness to investors. The World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Competitiveness Report has once again ranked it as the second-most competitive place to do business in the Middle East region.
According to the World Bank, Qatari economy is expected to grow at 2.7 percent in 2019 and 3 percent in 2020, partly driven by Qatar’s success in attracting foreign direct investments.
Qatar’s foreign trade saw remarkable growth in 2018 with total trade increasing by 19 percent to reach $116bn.
In 2018 QFC intensified efforts to further attract international business to expand their operations into Qatar’s rapidly growing market bringing the total number of companies under QFC to 612, out of them 520 are regulated and 92 are non-regulated companies.
QFC’s growth is also reflected in the number of milestone MoUs, events and international engagements that took place in 2018. The QFC signed five landmark MoUs in 2018 with key local and international stakeholders to develop various sectors of the economy.
Most notably, with the Aspire Zone Foundation to establish ‘Qatar’s Sports Business District’ (QSBD), a new national project which aims to create a premier sports business cluster in Qatar and the Middle East. The QFC also signed an MoU with B-Hive, a European collaborative innovation FinTech platform to develop the FinTech industry in Qatar. In line with its mandate to support Qatar’s economic diversification efforts, the QFC signed a key MoU with the Ministry of Transport and Communications to develop the digital industry.
The centre is gearing up for the next phase of growth, which will see the QFC supporting some of Qatar’s leading industries to further diversify its economy and attract foreign direct investment. Due to the proactive approach to engaging with key international markets around the world, QFC’s growth will continue in 2019 and beyond.
