It is easy to discern the fresh momentum in the drive to boost the private sector and, more particularly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Qatar. A number of recent developments indicate the government’s determination to create a more balanced economy for the hydrocarbons-rich state: the appointment in January 2015 of the minister of economy and commerce, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim…
Despite having one of the lowest non-performing loan (NPL) rates in the region, the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008 came as a reminder to Qatari lenders of the vulnerability of some areas of their loan books to economic distress. The high levels of personal debt in the GCC were of particular concern to regional regulators and many of them have taken steps to address the issue. Thus,…
The upgrade of the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in May 2014, which was followed by a similar upgrade by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), was the reward of a long process of technical and regulatory reform. The genesis of this process dates back half a decade: in 2010 Qatar’s adoption of the NYSE Euronext Universal Trading Platform established it as the first…
As Qatar’s Islamic financial services (IFS) sector expands, options are multipling for investors wishing to deploy their assets in a sharia-compliant manner. A key development in this regard came in 2013, when the nation’s stock market, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), teamed up with Al Rayan Investment, a subsidiary of Qatar’s second-largest Islamic bank, Masraf Al Rayan, to create the…
The MENA market for sukuk,or sharia-compliant bonds, has seen an impressive recovery since the onset of the global financial crisis led to a sharp dip in Islamic debt issuance. After peaking at $19bn in 2007, the value of the region’s annual sukuk offerings settled at about half that in the following three years, according to KIPCO Asset Management Company, but then recaptured its pre-crisis…
While the large investments in infrastructure anticipated over the coming years represent the most significant growth driver for the insurance industry, changes in the way that Qataris access health care are also expected to have a large impact on the sector. In April 2014 the National Health Insurance Scheme, known as Seha, was extended to all citizens. This development is the most recent…
Hosting the world’s largest gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, while also being a global centre for GTL research and development, Qatar today is at the forefront of this high-tech hydrocarbons sub-sector. Indeed, the success of GTL in the state has acted as a catalyst for development elsewhere, with the global sector expanding in 2014. Yet, as with other segments of the hydrocarbons industry, recent…
A key part of Qatar’s long-term development plan, Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030), is the transformation of the state from a resource-based economy to one that is knowledge-based. Aimed at unhooking the country from hydrocarbons dependency and diversifying its economy, this bold strategy has entailed major investment in human, social, environmental and economic development, with a big…
The global market is far more competitive these days, and 2014 saw a dramatic decline in oil prices, which continued into 2015. In March 2015 Brent Crude was retailing at $57 per barrel. Behind this is a global oversupply – Bloomberg reported that the UAE and Qatar estimated this to be in the region of 2m barrels per day (bpd) in mid-January 2015. This is primarily the result of surging US…
While rapid progress is being made on a major campaign to expand the country’s power and water infrastructure, Doha is also at the centre of research and development (R&D) efforts in the utilities field. Programmes currently under way in the state are investigating ways to improve desalination techniques, reverse the salination of Qatar’s groundwater, and power future water plants with…
