Qatar has maintained top ranking in the Middle East region in Global Financial Centers Index, GFCI 15, which covers 83 financial centres across the world.
Qatar’s rating rose by 15 points, mainly driven by its increasing competitiveness and perceived significance as a financial centre and its ranking stands just ahead of Dubai in the Middle East region, said GFCI 15, which was released yesterday by the London based Z/Yen Group.
The index also saw the ratings of Bahrain, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in the region also go up. Qatar maintained its leading position, but overall it is ranked 26 on a world scale.
Qatar’s average global assessment is 694 and its ex-regional average is 690, slightly up from 690 and 683 respectively in GFCI 14.
“Qatar’s position and rise in the ratings reflects how well the economy is performing, the competitive business environment and the world class legal, regulatory and tax platform the Qatar Financial Centre offers all firms to grow their businesses in Qatar and the broader GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) region,” QFC Authority CEO Shashank Srivastava said.
All regions, except Europe and the offshore centres, have given favourable assessments to Qatar with the Americas being significantly more favourable than the Middle East/Africa and Asia/Pacific respondents, GFCI 15 said.
The biggest gains in the competitive Middle East and Africa region were seen in Riyadh, which jumped 16 places to 31st position in the world; Bahrain by 12 places to 40th; Tel Aviv by 11 places to 21st and Johannesburg by 11 places to 50th. Abu Dhabi jumped 10 places to 32nd.
However, Istanbul declined three places to 47th and Casablanca entered the GFCI for the first time in the 62nd place.
GFCI 15 uses 25,441 financial centre assessments completed by 3,246 financial services professionals.
The GFCI is updated regularly and ratings change as assessments and instrumental factors change.
“In the GCC, Qatar, Bahrain, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi all increase their ratings. Yet in Europe, 23 of 27 European centres decline. Financial centre leadership is increasingly uncertain in a world of feeble monetary systems,” Prof Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of the Z/Yen Group, said.
The immediate story of GFCI 15 is that New York City overtakes London. But that misses the bigger picture as Hong Kong and Singapore continue to gain against both traditional leaders, he added.