The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), a leading onshore financial and business centre in the region, has launched its economic impact assessment report entitled, ‘The Economic Impact of Qatar Financial Centre,’ which estimates the economic contribution of the QFC to Qatar, primarily with regard to the gross value added or total GDP contributions and employment across its licensed sectors.

The report takes a comprehensive approach to measuring QFC’s economic impact, estimated across three distinct types of contributions, including: impacts created directly by the QFC; indirectly through its local supply chain; and the induced impact, mainly achieved through employee spending such as on children’s quality education, upmarket housing as well as other domestic personal expenditures. 

The report highlights that QFC contributed 1.0 per cent to Qatar’s total GDP, meaning that 1.0 per cent of Qatar’s total economic activity was created by QFC’s activities. Looking at non-oil GDP only, QFC’s contribution rises to 1.5 per cent, demonstrating the platform’s vital role in helping to diversify the Qatari economy.

Commenting on the unveiling of the report, Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, CEO and Board Member, QFC Authority, said: “QFC’s role and contribution to Qatar and its economy has evolved since the platform’s inception and continues to expand to this day. In particular, QFC has grown in tandem with Qatar over the past decade and half, as we onboarded a large number of banks and insurance companies as well as non-regulated firms over the years; and most significantly, unveiled our renewed sectorial focus driven by our Strategy 2022.” 

Al-Jaida continued: “Equally, QFC’s contribution to Qatar as a financial ecosystem extends beyond its quantifiable economic footprint. We add significant value through developing the financial ecosystem in the country. Our financial institutions engage across several complementary business lines. Coupled with our direct contribution to the country’s economy, our best-in-class business infrastructure continues to be an ideal choice for international companies to expand into Qatar and the wider region, especially in the post COVID-19 economic recovery period.” 

The report also unveils illuminating insights about QFC’s wide-ranging impact on the employment market. To date QFC’s activities is proven to have supported more than 12,000 jobs in Qatar directly and indirectly.  

Providing a closer view of the platform’s wider impact, Senior Advisor of Economics and Research at the Financial Sector Office, QFC, Thaddeus Charles Malesa, said: ”The findings of the report evidence QFC’s substantial involvement in Qatar’s economy and highlights its key role in further advancing economic diversification in the country. The employment impacts specifically demonstrate the significant contribution QFC makes to creating and supporting high-value adding employment in the Qatari economy. The jobs created on the platform are concentrated in the financial and professional service sectors, but the jobs our platform sustains include a wider range of sectors, such as transport, retail, utilities and real estate.” 

Malesa further added: “The report also highlights the increasing contributions of the Digital sector, which is one of QFC’s Strategy 2022 key target sectors. Coupled with expansion in financial services, sports and media segments, QFC’s enlarged commercial footprint has substantially contributed to aggregate revenue generation. I can aver that the Digital and FinTech sectors have the potential to grow even further and become larger contributors to Qatar’s GDP in the near future, especially as digital transformation is accelerating in light of changes made by COVID-19 moving forward.” 

The QFC currently has more than 900 companies registered, which represent a diverse range of sectors. These companies use the QFC’s onshore jurisdiction to enjoy competitive benefits, such as up to 100% foreign ownership, 100% repatriation of profits, 10% corporate tax on locally-sourced profits, and an extensive double taxation treaty network with over 80 countries, a legal environment based on English common law, its own world-renowned courts and arbitration centre, as well as the right to trade in any currency.