Today, Qatar’s stock market shows a substantial decline reaching its lowest levels in 1.5 months, as Joseph Blatter’s resignation as FIFA president has reinforced the fears that the country may lose the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
During today’s trading session, Qatar’s key index QE has dropped 2.8% reaching 11,844.20 which is the lowest level since April 20, 2015.
However, Qatar officials rejected the allegations of such risks. The Qatar Football Association president, Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, stated that Qatar was found not guilty of any violations, according to the report made by Michael Garcia, a lawyer from the US hired by FIFA to investigate the situation around the selection process of World Cup host countries for 2018 and 2022.
Qatar’ spending on World Cup infrastructure is estimated at around 200 billion dollars.
“At this stage the market is very highly correlated to the news from Fifa. There’s no real confirmation that a new president means they’ll lose the opportunity to host, but the uncertainty creates lots of concern and that means downward pressure on the market,” Tariq Qaqish, a fund manager at Al Mal Capital, said.
