About 5,200 financial services jobs will be created in Doha during this year, driven by an increase in foreign investment and the comparative strength of the Qatari economy, a report said.
The forecast by Kinsey Allen International, a global executive search firm, suggests that Doha’s financial services industry will employ 20,100 people by the end of the year. This is a far cry from 2006 when the sector employed just 6,200 people.
In the two years that followed, 4,100 more jobs were created. Then in 2008 and 2009 a further 4,600 more financial services jobs were generated as the industry expanded to employ approximately 14,900 people, it said.
James Bridgman, managing director of Kinsey Allen’s Middle East operations, said: “The number of people working in the financial services sector in Qatar has increased by an average of 35 per cent year on year over the last four years. That trend is set to continue in 2010 with the number of people employed in the financial services expected to grow 7.7 per cent per quarter in the 12 months. This wave of job creation is being driven by the overall strength of the economy and the foreign money flooding into Qatar.”
Overseas investment in the state has increased from $3.63 billion in 2008 to $20.75 billion in 2009 as foreign financiers have looked for safe-havens for money they can no longer risk speculating in Europe or North America, he said.
Qatar’s strong economic prospects, lack of income tax and relatively liberal cultural ethos make Doha an ideal destination for expat professionals and the state is expected to benefit from expats leaving other parts of the Gulf, the report said.
