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QNA
Doha
Qatar's sovereign rating is the strongest in the GCC region and among the strongest in the world, according to Qatar Financial Markets Authority's (QFMA) 2017 Annual Report.
The report said due to the strength of the national economy and financial efficiency, Qatar has high sovereign credit ratings and is classified within the high grade list of classifications (AA) by global rating agencies.
Immediately following the unjust siege, the international rating institutions downgraded the credit rating of Qatar, as a precautionary measure by those institutions for any possible effect of such siege.
Despite such action, this decision is currently subject to review by these institutions due to the continuous positive performance of the Qatari economy without being effectively affected by the siege imposed since June 5, 2017, the QFMA report said.
Qatar was rated (AA-) by Standard & Poor's (S&P), and (AA3) by Moody's. According to these ratings, Qatar's sovereign rating reflects a high level of creditworthiness with minimum risk.
With regards to Global Competitiveness in 2017/2018, Qatar's economy was ranked second at Arab level and 25th at the international level out of 137 countries, according to the report issued by the World Economic Forum.
Moreover, Qatar's economy has been classified among the mostly free category (second category) which included US and UK, according to 2017 Index of Economic Freedom issued by The Heritage Foundation.
Qatar's economy freedom is ranked second rank at Arab level and 29th at the international level among 180 countries covered by the classification, the QFMA report said.
Qatar's economy has also achieved second rank at the Arab level and the 29th at the international level in the efforts exerted for anti-corruption, according to Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 of Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption level which covered 180 countries.
The QFMA report said that according to the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) statistics the Qatari market has maintained its ranking in terms of market capitalisation of listed shares both in Arab (second) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) (17) regions. The market capitalisation reached $129.32 billion as on December 31, 2017, the report noted.
QFMA CEO Nasser Ahmed al Shaibi said the QFMA is working hard to maintain the last period achievements, related to the development of the Qatari capital market.
"Despite of a lot of regional and international challenges faced by the financial markets in the region, the QFMA's efforts in cooperation with all financial sector regulators in the state made the Qatari capital market overcome any obstacles affecting the market.
"Such efforts also helped in upgrading the Qatari capital market rankings to top positions according to the classifications of international institutions specialised in tracking the performance of capital markets around the world,"Shaibi pointed out.
He stressed that the QFMA has achieved a typical success in facing the unjust siege by adopting effective measures and policies that have supported the market during the past year.
Shaibi said QFMA's role was not only limited to issuing procedures and legislation, but to continuously evaluate those procedures and legislation to determine their impact on all concerned parties in the market in order to take appropriate decisions in a timely manner to ensure market stability and protect people dealing in the market.
