Qatar’s Inward Investment Stock Reaches 172.2 Billion Riyals in the First Quarter
The stock of inward foreign direct investment in Qatar reached one hundred and seventy two point two billion riyals at the end of the first quarter of 2026, up three point three percent on the fourth quarter of 2025, the National Planning Council said on 9 August in a survey compiled with Qatar Central Bank. Outward investment stock reached two hundred and twenty one point seven billion riyals, up three point five percent.
At the riyal’s fixed rate of three point six four to the dollar, that is about forty seven point three billion dollars inward and about sixty point nine billion dollars outward. The council publishes in riyals only.
Five sectors account for more than ninety percent of the inward stock. Mining and quarrying holds forty five point three percent, financial and insurance activities thirty one point nine percent, manufacturing thirteen percent, information and communication two point eight percent and professional, scientific and technical activities two percent. On the outward side, financial and insurance activities lead at thirty three point five percent, followed by mining and quarrying at twenty nine point eight percent, information and communication at ten point eight percent, accommodation and food service at nine point one percent and transport and storage at seven percent.
| Inward stock by sector | Share | End 2025 |
| Mining and quarrying | 45.3 percent | 44.9 percent |
| Financial and insurance | 31.9 percent | 28.4 percent |
| Manufacturing | 13.0 percent | 13.9 percent |
| Information and communication | 2.8 percent | 3.0 percent |
| Professional, scientific, technical | 2.0 percent | 4.1 percent |
The reported quarterly growth rates do not reconcile mechanically with the council’s own year end release, which put inward stock at one hundred and sixty five point four billion riyals and outward at two hundred and ten billion at the end of 2025. That indicates the first quarter survey uses revised comparison bases, so the two releases should not be combined arithmetically.
The survey covered about two hundred and ten establishments operating in Qatar. The council’s Secretary-General said it looks beyond investment volume to its quality and its impact on economic diversification, productivity gains and the transfer of knowledge and technology.
Why it matters: The composition moved more than the aggregate. Financial and insurance activities rose to thirty one point nine percent of the inward stock while professional, scientific and technical activities fell to two percent. These are shares of an accumulated stock, not measures of new money arriving in the quarter, since a stock can shift on revisions, valuation changes and reclassification as well as on transactions. They should not be read as which sector attracted the most investment. Against an inward position still dominated by mining and quarrying at over forty five percent, the question worth tracking is whether the larger financial share persists once revisions settle.
Looking ahead: The second quarter survey will show whether the shift holds. The council’s annual release in May is the point at which full year sector and geography become comparable.
Sources: National Planning Council of Qatar; Qatar Central Bank.
