Qatar waiting for QFII quota for China

Qatar is waiting for a qualified foreign institutional investors quota to inject money into the Chinese A-share and IPO market, eyeing the development potential and long-term growth of the world's second largest economy.

Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, who is also the chairman of Qatar Petroleum, said that the proposed quota was $5 billion, higher than the top securities regulator's previous required upper limit of $1 billion.

Officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission said last week they will support the Qatari request and further raise the ceiling for the quota as well as accelerate approvals for foreign institutional investors.

By June 20, 145 foreign institutional investors had received shares in the QFII quota of $27.26 billion. The market value of the shares held by those institutions is 1.1 percent of the total negotiable market cap, the CSRC said.

The Qatari investment will come from its liquefied gas income and will be continually invested in the Chinese capital market, according to Sada.

Qatar places great importance on the relationship with China and plans to strengthen bilateral ties through further economic cooperation, he added.