Qatar's National Planning Council (NPC) released the first-quarter 2026 results of its Foreign Direct Investment Survey on August 9. The inward direct-investment position stood at QAR 172.2 billion at the end of March, 3.3% above the position at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. The outward position, representing Qatari investment abroad, rose 3.5% over the same comparison to QAR 221.7 billion. These are investment stocks recorded at quarter-end, not cash inflows or outflows during the three months. NPC describes the findings as preliminary estimates and says the Q1 data drew on a sample of approximately 210 establishments. The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Qatar Central Bank (QCB).

Five economic activities together accounted for more than 90% of the inward position. Mining and quarrying represented 45.3%, financial and insurance activities 31.9%, manufacturing 13%, information and communication 2.8%, and professional, scientific and technical activities 2%. Those percentages describe the composition of the inward direct-investment position; they are not shares of Qatar's GDP or measures of each sector's contribution to output. The large combined weight of mining and finance shows that the recorded inward position was concentrated in a limited set of activities. It does not, by itself, establish that new mines or factories opened, that employment rose, or that production increased during the quarter. The release does not provide project-level transactions alongside the sector breakdown.

The outward position was also concentrated: financial and insurance activities accounted for 33.5%, mining and quarrying for 29.8%, information and communication for 10.8%, accommodation and food services for 9.1%, and transport and storage for 7%. This is a classification of direct investment held abroad by Qatar-resident investors. A balance-sheet position can reflect accumulated decisions, intercompany financing and valuation movements. A change between two quarter-end positions therefore cannot be treated automatically as the amount of new investment cash transferred during the quarter. NPC's release reports the aggregate positions and sector shares but does not name destination countries or list individual transactions. The inward and outward totals are separate scopes and should not be netted to imply a single measure of Qatar's total external exposure.

NPC says the survey includes privately owned companies and some government-owned companies, but excludes international financial transactions conducted by the state or individuals. It combines survey results with QCB data for monetary financial institutions, including banks, insurers and other financial institutions. That scope matters: the figures are not a census of every cross-border asset or liability. They are preliminary estimates of direct-investment positions compiled from a survey and institutional data. The council's statement also identifies attracting more investment into non-hydrocarbon activities as a priority for the coming period. That is a policy objective, not a measured outcome of this release. Without subsequent quarters and further methodological detail, these figures alone cannot establish whether the increase will persist, how much new capital entered during Q1, or whether the sector mix is diversifying.