Trade

Japan is Qatar’s top international investor

By Pramod Kumar

May 21, 2025, 7:47 AM

Qatar's minister of commerce and industry Sheikh Faisal Al Thani, centre, at the India-Qatar business forum in New Delhi on Tuesday. India is also a major FDI partner

Japan contributed half of FDI
Second-largest LNG customer
Total FDI topped $2.7bn in 2024

Japan was the top international investor in Qatar last year, contributing half of its foreign direct investment, official data published this week shows.

Tokyo contributed almost $1.4 billion of Qatar’s total FDI in 2024, according to Invest Qatar’s 2024 report. Japan is the world’s second largest importer of liquefied natural gas and Qatar’s second biggest customer for LNG.

Qatar received more than $2.7 billion across 241 FDI projects last year, according to a foreword by Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, the minister of commerce and industry.

The gas industry and some non-oil sectors accounted for a large portion of the total, with 95 percent directed to “greenfield” FDI, according to Invest Qatar. Greenfield FDI is when a company sets up in a foreign country, building its facilities from the ground up.

Electric power generation accounted for 40 percent or $1.1 billion. The retail and wholesale trade sector followed with a 14 percent share. Water, sewage and waste management sector accounted for 10 percent.

The number of jobs created more than doubled over the year before to 9,350.

Earlier this year Qatar passed three laws to deal with bankruptcy, public-private partnerships and commercial registration, as part of a wider bid to attract more foreign investment.

Qatar has set a target of securing $100 billion in FDI by 2030, according to an updated 2024 national development strategy.

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting real GDP growth of 2.4 percent for Qatar in 2025.