(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar was ranked fourth among 57 Islamic economies in the Islamic Growth Markets Investment Index and its national carrier Qatar Airways found a special place as being a major growth airline.
The index, which ranks countries investment potential relatively within Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) member country grouping, is based on a set of nine metrics covering country's growth fundamentals, growth momentum, investment momentum and relative country risk.
"Qatar scored 100 marks (out of 100) in growth momentum," said the index, prepared by Thomson Reuters in partnership with Dinar Standard, an Islamic markets research and advisory firm. Qatar was the only country to score 100 marks among the 57 OIC countries.
The GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) economies led by the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are on the top 10 list.
Among the GCC countries, the UAE was ranked third, Saudi Arabia (seventh), Kuwait (thirteenth), Oman (fourteenth) and Bahrain (eighteenth).
Within food and agriculture investment index in the Gulf economies, Qatar was ranked ninth behind Saudi Arabia (third), the UAE (fourth), Kuwait ( sixth) and Oman (eighth).
Within the travel and transportation investment index in the GCC, Qatar was ranked sixth against the UAE ( fourth), Saudi Arabia (fifth), Oman (seventh), Kuwait (tenth) and Bahrain (eleventh).
Within the plastic and rubber investment index in the GCC, Qatar was ranked sixth compared with Saudi Arabia (third), the UAE (fifth), Kuwait (seventh), Oman (ninth) and Bahrain (twelfth).
Qatar was seen as potential key market for transport allied services (airline leasing and services) and plastics (raw materials and eco-friendly products).
Energy is the largest OIC sector cluster owing to aggregate score from exports volume, imports and domestic consumption.
Sector cluster exports were the highest within OIC worth $1.3tn in 2013, representing 43% of global exports, which more than doubled between 2009 and 2013.
Primary opportunity areas identified are in renewables sector EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) services & O&M (operation & maintenance companies); solar/ wind farm; bio-energy innovative solutions; and energy storage solutions.
Food and agriculture is the second largest OIC sector, whose exports stood at $118bn in 2013, representing 8% of global exports and grew 42% during 2009-13.
Domestic demand from the food sector across OIC is the highest among all clusters and estimated at $974bn, which is 16% of global food consumption, the index said.
Driven by fast growing demographic, middle class, urbanisation and global expansion of domestic companies, primary opportunity areas are in retail (super/hyper markets), edible oil production, halal meat, prepared cereals, diary, cocoa and its products and sugar and sugar confectionery.
The third largest cluster of travel and transport saw $192bn worth exports, representing 6% of global exports.
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