The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has contributed 1% to Qatar’s total gross domestic product (GDP), implying that 1% of Qatar’s total economic activity was generated by the QFC’s activities.
The QFC’s contribution to non-oil GDP alone increased to 1.5%, demonstrating the platform’s vital role in helping to diversify the Qatari economy.
The financial centre's contribution was 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.
This was highlighted at its economic impact assessment report ‘The Economic Impact of QFC’, which estimates the economic contribution of it to the country, primarily with regard to the gross value added or total GDP contributions and employment across its licensed sectors.
"In particular, QFC has grown in tandem with Qatar over the past decade and half, as we on-boarded 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,” said Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida, chief executive and board Member, QFC Authority.
Highlighting that the QFC’s contribution to Qatar as a financial ecosystem extends beyond its quantifiable economic footprint; he said "we add significant value through developing the financial ecosystem in the country. Our financial institutions engage across several complementary business lines."
The report also sheds insights on 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.
”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," said Thaddeus Charles Malesa, senior adviser of Economics and Research at the Financial Sector Office, QFC.
The employment impacts specifically demonstrate the significant contribution QFC makes to creating and supporting high-value adding employment in the Qatari economy, he said.
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, according to him.
Coupled with expansion in financial services, sports and media segments, he said the 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 gross domestic product or GDP in the near future, especially as digital transformation is accelerating in light of changes made by Covid-19 moving forward,” he said.
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