Qatar, a major investor in US and European assets, worries that haphazard attempts by countries to shore up their economies could weaken the dollar and the euro, its prime minister said.
“What should happen is we should have a full package with a full strategy to solve the problems,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, who also heads the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), told US financial broadcaster CNBC in an interview, Reuters reported Sheikh Hamad said the central banks were right to act to prevent worse crises, but added: “With more printing money, without having a strategy, I believe the value of the money will go down very soon.”
He did not give details of the economic measures that he believed Western countries should be taking, but said the risk of further volatility in markets was making investors such as Qatar cautious. Analysts have estimated the size of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund at around $100 billion.
“There are some questions with no answer up to now,” he told CNBC. However, Sheikh Hamad added that Qatar would retain holdings of strategic stocks and buy when prices dropped, and that it would continue to make new investments in promising assets.
He said he was optimistic about the longer-term future of the banking industry, since better regulation and capital-raising would strengthen banks after some years.
Dollar, euro value worries Qatar
