Read an article today about the tiny arab country known as Qatar, and it's actual large influence all around the world. In their case, size doesn't mean a thing. They have put their gratuitous fortunes of oil and gas to very good use it seems. Living in Canada, I often criticize one of our provinces of the very opposite. Alberta, although not as rich in oil and gas as a lot of other locales around the world, had a booming economy over the last decade or more due to exports of it. The last few years their economy has been hit hard by falling commodity prices and has entered a recession because of it. They should have definitely taken a page out of the Qatari book, and put that money to work while they had it.
Back to Qatar.
With a population of 2.6 million, the average income is almost $130,000 USD! Coupled with no income taxes, you can see how the wealth is flowing through the country. Mind you the financial gap is huge. Many many immigrant workers earn very little, and the people at the upper end earn astronomical amounts. But there is money there to be had for sure. They hold the largest natural gas reserve in the world and they smartly control the release of their oil as well. Qatar hold large reserves at a time to minimize effects of any fluctuations in the market. They exported 33 billion dollars of gas and 23 billion of oil in 2016. Not too shabby.
So what have they been busy doing with all that money? Quite a bit...
From MSN money:
The Qatari government richly rewards its subjects. They are said to enjoy free healthcare, free education, tax exemptions and free or subsidized housing. Some say that these benefits stifle its citizens natural competitiveness, however, giving them less incentive to study hard and achieve greatness.
In 2005 Qatar created the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to manage its sovereign wealth fund. The fund's aim is to diversify and invest the country's resources. Much of this wealth is invested abroad. It is said to have over $338 billion (£238 billion) in assets spread around the world.
Qatar is said to own more assets in London than the Queen, including the Shard, the 2012 Olympic Village and a stake in the Canary Wharf financial district. It's also a shareholder in UK bank Barclays, supermarket brand Sainsbury's and airline group IAG, which owns brands including British Airways and Iberia.
The QIA has heavily invested in America. It has almost a 10% stake in the company that owns the Empire State Building, the Empire State Realty Trust Inc, and it invested $3.5 billion (£2.4 billion) in Uber. This gives it around a 5% interest in the ride-sharing tech company. Qatar is also opening an office in Silicon Valley to focus on technology as part of its diversification away from oil and gas.
In 2016, the QIA bought the Asia Square Tower 1 in Singapore for a reported $2.59 billion (£1.85 billion).
Through its sovereign wealth fund, Qatar has also taken a stake in the highly lucrative top-flight European soccer market. In 2011 it paid around $100 million (£72.3 million) for a 70% stake in French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
The QIA is also the largest shareholder in car manufacturer Volkswagen, and has a stake in other global names including jeweler Tiffany & Co and miner Glencore.
Arab news channel Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar.
Having spent a reported $161 million (£117 million) on its successful bid, Qatar is gearing up to host the 2022 FIFA Football World Cup. Construction costs have been put at around $9 billion (£6.5 billion) and the tournament is expected to be a huge boost to the country's tourism.
The Qatar Foundation is responsible for Education City, a vast campus in west Doha that is home to several domestic and international educational institutions. It was established to make Qatar a world-class academic location. University College London, Carnegie Mellon University and Weill Cornell Medical College are some of the foreign institutions with bases here. It is thought that Qatar invests around $404.8 million (£292.7 million) a year to host the US campuses alone.
It said to be committed to producing 20% of its electricity through solar power by 2030.
Qatar seems to know that the time will come when the world will look to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and they seem to be positioning themselves to deal with that scenario. By investing their money both inside and outside their country, they are trying to ensure that they will be a successful country for years to come. Say what you will about some of the alleged human rights violations and questionable ties to different groups; from a business perspective - it's quite an astounding story.
Source: MSN Money