Qatar has recently become a mid-sized foreign aid donor, comparable in size to New Zealand and Portugal, thanks to its expanding Gross National Income based on gas exports. It is exploring how to institutionalize its assistance to improve effectiveness. While there have been many studies of the effectiveness of aid from member countries of the OECD, aid from other donors, and specifically Arab aid, has been less well studied. Most commentaries on Arab aid are based on qualitative information because there is insufficient data for empirical analysis. Qatar has, however, started to publish aggregate information on its aid. This, along with more disaggregated data provided for the study by the international cooperation directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, permits for the first time a quantitative exploration of the allocation of Qatari aid between 2010 and 2012. Compared to other donors, Qatar provides a high share of its aid as humanitarian assistance but very little aid through multilateral global or regional multilateral channels. At a time when other Arab countries have also stepped up aid, it would be useful to assess whether strengthened collaboration, along the lines of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, would be helpful. This paper finds evidence that Qatar responds to U.N. humanitarian appeals in Arab countries, and has been effective in ensuring that it is a significant donor in partner countries, avoiding the trap of becoming spread too thinly. Qatar also concentrates its aid in neighboring countries. There is no evidence Qatar uses aid to reward allies as proxied by voting similarity at the United Nations.

This policy report takes a closer look at the WB’s Doing Business survey, with the objective of identifying key areas of improvement in the business regulatory framework of Qatar that would ensure a more business-friendly environment. Improving the Business Regulatory Environment for Entrepreneurs and SMEs in Qatar An Alternative Look at the World Bank’s Doing Business Survey Executive Summary In line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy, this policy report aims at identifying dimensions of business regulation that require attention from policymakers to ensure a more business-friendly regulatory environment in Qatar, using the World Bank’s Doing Business survey results. While Qatar is relatively well positioned in the world Ease of Doing Business rankings, standing at 48 out of 189, recent trends have shown a fall in rankings due to insufficient regulatory reforms. This report identifies key potential areas of regulatory improvement that affect essential stages of a company’s life cycle, namely access to finance – which depends on the ease of getting credit and investor protection – and during the start-up phase. To improve access to finance, the report recommends reinforcing borrowers’ and lenders’ legal rights under collateral and bankruptcy laws (Commercial Law No. 27, 2006 and the Civil Code No. 22, 2004); and deepening the coverage, scope, and accessibility of credit information (Qatar Central Bank Law No. 13, 2012). To better protect investors, the report suggests strengthening disclosure rules of related party transactions, reinforcing company directors’ liability regime for self-dealing, and providing greater access of internal corporate information to minority shareholders (the Qatar Financial Markets Authority Corporate Governance Code, 2009). Finally, recommendations to ease of starting a business include improving both the online procedures and the one-stop shop experience while complying with the requirements of Qatar’s Commercial Law, 2002; and removing both the requirement for a company seal (or make the procedure optional) and the paid-in minimum capital requirement (Commercial Law No. 5, Article 232, 2002). These policy recommendations, if implemented, can significantly increase Qatar’s Doing Business ranking from 48th to 18th, and more importantly help improve the regulatory business environment for the private sector, in particular entrepreneurs and SMEs.

The Qatar entrepreneurship ecosystem map is designed as a tool for entrepreneurs, support organizations and policymakers involved in Qatar's entrepreneurship ecosystem. It presents the relationship between various organizations and entities involved in finance, education, entrepreneur support, the private sector, media, and policy making as related to entrepreneurship within Qatar. Subject to periodic revision, it is intended as a general informational resource only, and makes no claim to be a fully authoritative reference. Categorization of support organizations is based on Babson Global’s entrepreneurship ecosystem framework.