The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) saw significant improvements to rank third in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, according to the latest Global Financial Centre's Index (GFCI), which provides evaluations of competitiveness and rankings for major financial centres around the world.
The QFC climbed 14 places to overall rank of 48 in the world, according to GFCI 39, which researched 137 financial centres across the globe.
The data on which the index is based predates the recent conflict in the Middle East and the relative stability in the leading centres in the index may be affected by the outcome of those events, according to the index, which serves as a valuable reference for policy and investment decisions.
Global feedback continues to prioritise infrastructure, regulatory quality, and institutional strength as key factors shaping financial centres.
Doha's progress reflects alignment with these fundamentals -- supported by stable business environment, improving visibility, and a growing financial ecosystem, according to the QFC.
In the MEA region, Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to take first and second places, with Dubai entering the top 10 to take seventh place in the world.
"Along with Doha, Johannesburg was up 14 places, while Kuwait City rose 16 places. These centres were the only ones to increase their rating," it said, adding the average rating change across this region was a fall of 1.23%.
In the fintech ranking and rating, Doha stood at 66th position.
The GFCI 39 was compiled using 147 instrumental factors. These quantitative measures are provided by third parties including the World Bank, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the UN.
The instrumental factors were combined with 34,468 assessments of financial centres provided by 5,218 respondents to the GFCI online questionnaire.
On a worldwide scale, the gap between the leading four centres is tight and only one rating point separates each of these centres. New York leads the index, with London staying second. Hong Kong retains third position ahead of Singapore.
Overall, the rating for almost all centres fell, with the average rating across all centres down 1.82%. The largest fall in average ratings was in Latin America and The Caribbean, down 2.5%, and the smallest decrease was in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where average ratings fell by 0.56%.
The GFCI provides ratings for financial centres using a ’factor assessment’ model. The process involves taking two sets of ratings – one from survey respondents and one generated by a statistical model – and combining them into a single ranking.
A centre is given a GFCI rating and ranking if it receives more than 150 assessments from people based in other centres in the online survey.
