Qatar’s inward foreign investments have grown by 6.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, local media reported yesterday.

Quoting a joint study by the Qatari planning ministry and the country’s central, the media pointed out that the total foreign investments in Qatar had amounted to 722.6 billion Qatari riyals ($199.7 billion) at the end of the first quarter of 2019.

“Inward foreign investments to Qatar reached 677.7 billion Qatari riyals ($187.31 billion) at the end of the first quarter of 2018,” the official report pointed out, adding that the Gulf state’s inward investments were growing by 1.1 per cent on a quarterly basis. “Qatar’s foreign investment hit 714.7 billion riyals ($197.5 billion) at the end of the last financial year.”

The study explained that the inward foreign investments were amounting to “67.9 per cent of Qatar’s total 490.5 billion riyals ($135.6 billion) investment.”

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Qatar, the report noted, had reached 123.7 billion riyals ($34.2 billion), representing 17.4 per cent of the nation’s total investments. On the other hand, financial portfolio investments amounted to 105.6 billion riyals ($29.2 billion), registering 14.6 per cent of the Gulf state’s total annual investments.

The study was based on “comprehensive data” from major Qatari private companies as well as some state-owned enterprises, which jointly represented 84 per cent of the nation’s inward foreign investment.

Source: middleeastmonitor