Qatar: Clean banks, the World Cup and the infrastructure boom

Qatar's government is investing tens of billions in infrastructure ahead of the 2022 football World Cup. Local banks will be big winners - but Qatar's reputation will be tarnished if the World Cup is revoked, explains Nick Wilson, chairman of the Qatar Investment fund.

Qatar's upgrade to the MSCI Emerging Market index has brought the spotlight on to the Gulf, as has the proposed opening of Saudi Arabia's financial markets to foreign investors. The Qatar Stock Exchange suffered a setback when allegations arose that the country had used bribery to win the bid for the 2022 World Cup. Renewed instability in Iraq also hurt the market, but the speed of its recovery is striking. State spending boom Qatari banks are a proxy for the economy as a whole, which is due to grow by over 6% this year. They form the means by which oil and gas revenues flow from t...