QATAR has emerged preferred destination for com-panies across the world despite challenges created by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), a leading onshore financial and business centre in the region, is playing a key role in attracting companies and investors to Qatar.
By attracting companies from across the world, QFC is playing a crucial role in further boosting economic growth, attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and advancing economic diversification in the country.
QFC has wrapped up a successful year as it attracted companies from different geographies and sectors, signed several important agreements and hosted many high-level event in 2021. The number of firms registered on QFC platform reached 1,284 as of December 31, 2021, surpassing its target of 1,000 companies by 2022.
QFC signed a total of 20 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) last year. In 2021, QFC organised over 50 virtual, hybrid and in-person events, engaging members of business communities in Qatar and other countries to explore mutually beneficial investment opportunities and collab-orations and to discuss critical topics that help busi-nesses navigate the global market
Additionally, QFC participated in more than 70 local and international events, such as the International Con-ference on Islamic Finance (ICIF), 24th SPIEF, and the inaugural Qatar Economic Forum.Companies prefer Qatar because of its strong economy.
Qatar has taken several measures in the past which has made its economy resilient and strong. Empowering the private sector is one of the main prior-ities of the government.
Qatar had announced a financial package amounting to QR75bn to help support the private sector during the outbreak. Despite the chal-lenges facing the global economy, including the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the economy has managed to maintain its high credit ratings with a stable outlook
.Despite the challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19, QFC delivered a stellar performance in 2020. QFC registered significant increase of 63.7 percent in the number of new firms licensed on the QFC platform in 2020, compared to 2019.
In 2020, the QFC implemented several support measures in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, which offered relief to its registered firms, in addition to new policies that create opportunities for firms looking to tap into Qatar’s flourishing market.
The QFC registered 334 firms in the year to December 31, 2020, compared to almost 200 firms registered over the same period in 2019. With proactive government pol-icies and resilience of private sector, Qatar’s economy is set to grow stronger in future.
