The total foreign investment in Qatar has touched an estimated QR525.7bn ($144 billion). The country’s total inward investments increased by QR1.6bn at the end of 2014, from a year ago, “Qatar foreign investment survey 2015” released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) noted.
Other foreign investments, meaning transactions from aboard in the form of loans and investments, touched QR306bn, up QR17.3bn compared to the previous year. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Qatar stood at QR141.1bn, while portfolio investments amounted to QR78.6bn. During 2014, Qatar’s foreign direct inward flows witnessed a drop by QR11.3bn.
According to the Ministry’s updated data, Qatar’s outward investment increased by QR35.3bn to QR306.2bn. Other foreign investments consisting of long term loans and trade related short term financial instruments touched QR166bn of the total assets, while foreign direct investment abroad stood at QR117bn and portfolio investments or financial securities clocked QR23.2bn. Outward flow of foreign direct investment amounted to QR3.1bn in 2014 against QR13.1bn in 2013.
Over 90 percent of the inward FDI was accounted for by the oil and gas associated downstream manufacturing and other activities such as transportation and marketing. In terms of the book value of investments, manufacturing activities accounted for 52 percent of the total value of FDI, followed by mining and quarrying (38 percent) and financial insurance activities (4 percent) at the end of 2014.
Over 60 countries contributed to the stock of FDI in Qatar. The top four Group of countries’ share of FDI accounted for 94 percent. They included European Union, US, Other American Countries and GCC. Other American Countries Group accounted for the major share of FDI inward stock in 2014, with 34 percent, followed by European Union (33 percent) US (22 percent) and GCC (5 percent).
The stock of outward direct investment from Qatar stood at QR117bn, an increase of 3 percent over the previous year. Financial and Insurance activities, Transportation and storage; Information and communication, Real Estate activities were the top groups that received the most of the FDI abroad, an estimated 89 percent. The Financial and Insurance group received the major share of total FDI outward stock, 38 percent. Transportation and Storage; Information and communication group received 32 percent of the total outward stock, while real estate received 19 percent of the total outward FDI.
Qatar had FDI abroad in about 80 countries, with the European Union, GCC, Other Arab Countries and Asian group of countries collectively receiving 83 percent of the estimated QR117bn. While the maximum share went to European Union (29 percent), GCC received 26 percent. The other Arab countries and Asian countries received 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
The Ministry compiled the investment data with the support of Qatar Central Bank (QCB). International financial transactions made by individuals and by the Government are not covered in this study.
