Concern about the lack of tradable shares on the Qatari stock market has led to calls for the emirate’s family businesses to publically list at least part of their capital.
Prime minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani told a conference in Doha that the number of listed companies on the Qatar Exchange didn’t reflect the size of the country’s economy.
With only 42 listings, the Qatari bourse is about a third the size of Saudi Arabia’s, according to Bloomberg.
Al Thani said Qatari large family businesses – which include companies such as the Jaidah Group, an industrial group controlled by the eponymous family, and the OITC Group, a conglomerate controlled by the Al Obaidly family – should list as this would benefit their owners and the Qatari economy.
The national economy would grow immensely if private and family-owned businesses go public, he said, as reported in local newspaper The Peninsula.