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Openness And Foreign Direct Investment

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Openness to foreign direct investment. According to The World Bank (n.d.), “Foreign direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy.” In 2014, the flows of FDI into Qatar reached more than USD 1,040 million See Fig. 1 (“Qatar Foreign Investment,” 2016). Qatar is exceptionally open to FDI, as its objective is to become a world-class leader in terms of its business environment for foreign direct investment. Over the past several years, this has become a reality by way of improvements made to the country’s infrastructure and the creation of favorable foreign investment …show more content…

Therefore, we firmly believe that Qatar’s winning bid to host the 2022 World Cup, was a strategic decision designed to attract a large number of foreign investors in future years to come.
FDI laws and regulations. Qatar’s investment-stimulating policies are proceeding on a steady basis, in an effort to protect Qatari-owned companies from significant competition. The chief legislation governing foreign investment in Qatar is Investment Law No. 13/2000. This law permits foreign investors to hold 49% of the capital while a Qatari partner holds at least 51%. However, Investment Law No. 13/2000 provides leeway for 100% ownership with special government approval. This leeway is limited to investments in certain sectors, including: “agriculture, industry, health, education, tourism, development and exploitation of natural resources, energy, mining, sports and entertainment services; and banking and finance” (“Investment Climate,” 2015). Significantly, the investment must contribute to the long-term development of Qatar’s human resources and technology.
In addition to the previously stated Investment Law No. 13/2000, another law which governs FDI is Law No. 23/2006. This piece of legislature provides foreigners the right of land use over real estate, in designated ‘investment areas,’ for the duration of 99 years and is renewable following government approval (“Investment Climate,” 2015). The law also

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