Qatar expatriates among world’s wealthiest

Xray
By Xray

Source ::: The Peninsula/ BY SATISH KANADY
DOHA: Qatar has one of the highest paid expatriates in the Middle East, with one in four expats earning more than $200,000 per year. The expats have a monthly disposable income in excess of $3,000, an international expatriate survey has revealed.

The 2009 Expat Explorer Survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International, revealed Asia is home to the highest paid expatriates in the world. The survey identified Qatar as having some of the wealthiest expats after Russia and Japan. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were among the other GCC countries listed as having the richest expats.

Russia ranked first overall for expatriates in terms of savings. The rest of the top 10 countries were all in Asia and the Middle East. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE topped in the Middle East region among countries where people had increased their savings.

Expats in Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia manage to save more now since moving away from their country of origin than expats in any other country.

The survey was based on an expat’s quality of life, annual income, disposable income, ability to save and possession of luxury items.

According to the research, the Middle East has not been hit as hard by the credit crunch as other regions. Two-thirds (63 percent) of the expatriates surveyed in Qatar said the credit crunch had not changed their attitudes at all. In the UAE, over two-thirds of the expats stated that their attitudes to spending had changed as a result of the economic crisis.

However, the global financial crisis has taken a heavy toll on expats in Britain and the United States, with many considering returning home due to the high cost of living, lack of savings and low wages. Generous salaries are also relatively scarce in Australia and Belgium.

In Britain, 44 percent of those surveyed considered going home compared to 23 percent of expats living in the US. The lowest paid expats in the survey were found in Australia and Belgium, where more than 60 percent earned under $100,000 annually. More than two-thirds said the credit crisis had changed the way they spent money.

Aside from the usual bank accounts, popular means of saving and investing money among expatriates include shares, property and managed funds. Property was a popular option in Bahrain and South Africa. The collapse of the global markets has not deterred investors in Asia, however, with shares still popular among expatriates in Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia. Expats originating from Germany and Brazil are the most reluctant to invest in property.

Food and accommodation have seen the largest increase in spending for expats, a continuing theme form the 2008 Expat Explorer report.

Expat Explorer, now in its second year, surveyed more than 3,100 expats from more than 50 countries, and is the largest survey of its kind, with 46 percent more respondents than last year.

THE PENINSULA
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsect...

By Vegas• 29 Jun 2009 20:15
Vegas

You can't teach experience...

By agent_nur67• 29 Jun 2009 20:07
Rating: 4/5
agent_nur67

to make this article TRUE... The title should be

QATAR EXPATRIATES (mostly from EUROPE) AMONG WORLD'S WEALTHIEST.

or

QATAR EXPATRIATES (from INDIA... if the company's HR MANAGER is from INDIA) AMONG WORLD'S WEALTHIEST.

By dondi823• 28 Jun 2009 12:43
dondi823

incredible!!! who are they talking to?

This ones adds up to the incredibilities of the doha press. so sad...so untrue..

"give the man a half of a fish, you'll feed him for a day. teach the man how to catch fish, be sure to let him sign a franchise clause."

By Midfielder 4• 28 Jun 2009 12:32
Midfielder 4

What a crock of a report. All it will do is upset people. Or make them laugh.

-----

A wise young crackpot knows no fear - Ian Dury.

By GodFather.• 28 Jun 2009 12:28
GodFather.

Brit Yes your absolutely correct it is QR200K a year precisely..lol

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

By GodFather.• 28 Jun 2009 12:26
GodFather.

I think survey was conducted at Al Sharq village or any other five star hotels in Qatar?..

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

By HASMUB• 28 Jun 2009 12:19
Rating: 4/5
HASMUB

this is true but I think not from Asia. High ranking engineers are being paid for around 70 - 80/month

By britexpat• 28 Jun 2009 11:54
britexpat

Actually, the survey could be true..

Between pajju, myself, rizks and UkengQatar, UK earns over 200K a year (acording to rumours)

By lusitano• 28 Jun 2009 11:47
lusitano

what's new? the media here serves the authorities, not necessarily reports real facts!

By beso• 28 Jun 2009 11:24
beso

OMG,...!!

Such reports give the chance to raise the prices and house rentals,..MORE & MORE,...!!!

By anonymous• 28 Jun 2009 07:59
anonymous

So flex01 how do you know that HSBC is in deep sh1t?

By flex01• 28 Jun 2009 00:46
flex01

No doubt, HSBC has done this survey. They ,as a bank, are in deep shit and so it seems there all their surveys and products etc ar emad ebase don surveys mentioned above

By incub0t• 27 Jun 2009 23:21
incub0t

Hmm... they probably conduct a survey on Expats working in Ras Laffan??

By britexpat• 27 Jun 2009 23:08
britexpat

Alexa: I think you're talking about a different survey..

By fubar• 27 Jun 2009 20:41
fubar

I read the survey on the HSBC and the results are definitely in US Dollars, not Qatar Riyals.

To put it into perspective, that means an annual salary of 730,000QAR (60,000QAR per month).

Possibly the survey included housing allowance, but I find that hard to believe since the survey is a measure of personal cash income. Housing allowance provides no financial cash benefit to the respondent, so that seems unlikely to me.

The survey results do not say where how the respondents were found, or how many were interviewed in Qatar.

Perhaps the respondents were all HSBC customers?

And the survey does say that as few as 30 people may have been interviewed per country in order to get accurate results ("A sample size of 30 or more respondents from each country was required for inclusion in the league tables, in order to be considered robust and indicative of the views and trends of the specific population it relates to".)

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 19:31
anonymous

The vast majority of expats here are Asian and no way do they earn that amount of money.

There may be a few Westerm expats who earn that amount but it is not 1 in 4.

Talk about statistics, statistics and more damn lies.

Papers over here are crap.

________________________________________________

Man makes plans...............God smiles ;-)

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 19:26
anonymous

Formula for monthly cost p/p, generally for hospitality when budgeting:

Basic x 1.5 + basic x 12 = annual cost.

This however applies on package deals that include housing and such, not on all salary-constructions

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 18:36
anonymous

and I was basing it on annual income. I am also basing it on including the value of teh housing allowance with the income. Still, considering the high number of low paid laborers and other employees, I don't think it is accurate.

 

 

 

I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 18:31
anonymous

Its per year guys!!!...divided by 12 it comes around $17,000....and it must be QR and not US$...then it fits...doesnt it?

Of course they have left out the Asians from the count!!!

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 18:00
anonymous

They represent top administrative figures in industry and university education. I have to wonder where they get their numbers from and frankly don't believe them.

 

 

 

I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 17:07
anonymous

Can be Exile..

But, for each expat that has a house to himself... how many other expats are there that share one accommodation with 2, 4, 8 or more?

I think they ignored the labor incomes as these figures would drag down the averages significantly and would give a bleak outcome.

To me an expat = anybody with a different nationality. Regardless of income.

By Morpheous• 27 Jun 2009 17:00
Morpheous

This report is bogus , The Peninsula needs to really improve and provide quality reporting .

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 16:00
Rating: 3/5
anonymous

The figure of 200K could make sense. If they are including housing allowance and other allowances in the equation. A vill cost 15K QR a month that's 180K a year which equates to 50K dollars. So with salary, bonus and other allowances for flights etc you could easily get to 200K US. However I suspect the people that completed the survey were the people at the top of the tree whose first language was English and they had access to a computer....

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 15:02
anonymous

Nice article...

But freaking useless.

it is ridiculous that GDP's are calculated over "nationals only"

Do it over the entire population, and the outcome will be fairly disappointing.

When it comes to expatriates, what is the definition? European/American incl. Asian labor, or are these conveniently ignored?

Here is a HYPOTHETICAL estimate, see if you'd agree:

I would estimate 700.000 laborers at av. QR 1.500 (105 bjn) and 300.000 expats at av. QR 15.000 (450 bjn) = 555 bjn = an av. of 5550 per expat which is an av of 1500 Dollar, thus the expat GDP according to my quick hypothetical estimate is half the advertised figure. And somehow, I cant help but think that my 'thick thumb' calculation is more realistic.

By fubar• 27 Jun 2009 14:28
fubar

Statistically impossible for 1 in 4 expats to earn that salary, since more than 3 in 4 are low paid labourers etc.

The Advisory Council should spend less time debating media censorship and freedom start to debate ways to stop newspapers from publishing such lies and distortions.

The Peninsula should be dragged over the coals for continuing to print such complete and utter rubbish.

By britexpat• 27 Jun 2009 13:53
britexpat

If you read my earler post, it will become clear :o)

By genesis• 27 Jun 2009 13:47
genesis

It must be QR not US $, Which would make sense. An engineer at any government organization will earn no less than 30,000QR/month. I don't find the report exaggerating, there is a CEO who earns 1MQR/Month...

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 13:45
anonymous

So what is the annual salary of an expat ? what is the range? the 200K annual salary here seems to be a bogus and only select few were asked in the survey

By chinitasai08• 27 Jun 2009 13:32
chinitasai08

Earning $200,000 in a year?

am i reading it correctly????

OMG, can't believe it :)

ur all right, this is a joke!!!

MyHotComments +

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 13:23
anonymous

qatar expats is the largest customers of bank loans I think and not with biggest salaries

By fishermanalex• 27 Jun 2009 13:19
fishermanalex

$200,000???????????

who is that ???? :))))

By ashwindoke• 27 Jun 2009 12:47
ashwindoke

I think he had mis printed the number of Zero's...

else has included every piece of money spent on the guy by company... house rent.. car.. gym charges.... etc etc...

Still it wont reach tht value.....

Or is it salary of all the people sponsored by a single sponsor ???... lol

___________________________________________

Reality is a Illusion Caused Due to Deficiency of Alcohol

By SD• 27 Jun 2009 12:31
SD

It's pity that I have work family just from 3 in Qatar. Forth could be definitely with year income above $200,000 !!!

Secondly, let me notice that no one from us doesn't excess of $3,000 as well!!!

What about work force like maids, drivers, nurses, teachers and many others? Hundred of thousands works in service, construction, education, health and sport sectors under USD3000. Are they not expatriates?

Who did this totally unscientific research have to go back to preliminary school and pass the course "Beginnings of statistics"!

Do not be fooled by unrealistic numbers when we are speaking about the real majority of expatriates in Qatar!

By Xray• 27 Jun 2009 12:21
Xray

a report like ZERO inflation in newspaper...

By Darly• 27 Jun 2009 11:59
Darly

Another case of reporters filing reports without reading them first..

By rayes49• 27 Jun 2009 11:55
Rating: 3/5
rayes49

iam sure satish kanady himself knows that one in 30,000 expats earn more than USD 200,000 and he too is one amongst that...butstill to gain some publicity and coverage they publish such reports from unreliable and false sources....SICK

By MissX• 27 Jun 2009 11:53
Rating: 4/5
MissX

yeh I don't doubt that Qatar has very high earning expatriates, but they seem to have conveniently not included the labour force in the calculations. Even without the underpaid labour force, I still doubt that 1 in 4 expatriates earn 200,000 Riyals per year, let alone $200,000.00

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 11:43
anonymous

biggest joke in 2009......

By lamea• 27 Jun 2009 11:31
lamea

one in four earn $200,000!!!! is this a joke?????

By Xray• 27 Jun 2009 11:26
Xray

SATISH KANADY can give better answer :-) ... anybody knows about his contact...

By Majnoon Ajnabi• 27 Jun 2009 11:26
Rating: 3/5
Majnoon Ajnabi

for one thing most expats lie about their income because they want everyone to think they are dragging down big money and then you have the guys that claim to make $150k but don't tell you they are working 84 hrs a week. Disposable income of $3k is only $36k and if your accommodations are free that is not hard to maintain. As usual "liars figure and figures lie".

It's really odd, because i have the same situation with my car....I only get 20 mpg and another guy with the exact same car gets 40 mpg.

It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and say the opposite

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 11:21
Rating: 3/5
anonymous

"one in four expatriates earning more than $200,000 per year"

That is the biggest joke I have heard all year!!!

By britexpat• 27 Jun 2009 11:19
britexpat

I would suggest that people earning over 200K would probably have housing provided by the company also..

By mzain• 27 Jun 2009 11:17
mzain

.........n yeah dnt forget 40% of tht salary is for house rent ;o)............

By britexpat• 27 Jun 2009 11:17
Rating: 5/5
britexpat

A bit of selective reporting by the Penninsula.. From what i can gather..

Only a sample size of 30 or more respondents from each country was required for inclusion in the league tables.

The ranking table is determined by four main economic factors: annual income in excess of US$200,000, a monthly disposable income in excess of US$3,000, an increase in saving while living/working abroad (in their current country of residence) and having at least two luxury items in the country they live in. Each criterion is equally weighted to arrive at a score. The overall ranking is based on the average score for a country across the criteria.

Wealth is defined as an annual income in excess of US$200,000 and a monthly disposable income in excess of US$3,000.

So, I suppose Pajju and UkengQatar are in and I am out:o(

By qatariboy2005• 27 Jun 2009 11:16
qatariboy2005

hahahahah.that was a good one baldrick.ur right,and i guess they got their pay sheck the day before.lool

By baldrick2dogs• 27 Jun 2009 11:14
baldrick2dogs

Maybe they carried out the survey in a shopping mall on a Friday ;o)

By Xray• 27 Jun 2009 11:08
Xray

thats a fact that earning here is much better than westen countries...

By anonymous• 27 Jun 2009 10:52
anonymous

I was filthy rich and I didn't know it...Now I'm feeling better! Who wants to buy a Nissan Sunny? I will pay the advance for a Bentley...

By vinodnair01• 27 Jun 2009 10:52
Rating: 4/5
vinodnair01

iam sure the survey was conducted in beverly hills gardens, al fardan gardens and in few more villa compounds and in the ritz carlton remada and sheraton

i wonder where is this industrial area and national area where there is supposed to be six hundred thousnd under paid or not paid at all people living . Can some one tell me is this part of Qatar or not

By Arien• 27 Jun 2009 10:50
Rating: 2/5
Arien

what a load of BS

Majority are labourers who earn 600 and 700 a month!!!

______________________________________________

- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -

By Xray• 27 Jun 2009 10:45
Xray

i am also surprized to see the ratio...

By Richierich• 27 Jun 2009 10:43
Richierich

Nice Figure's i hope that is true.

__________________________________________

Life is short...300 meter before roundabout!

By mmyke• 27 Jun 2009 10:37
mmyke

Qatar is a tough place to live in...

By britexpat• 27 Jun 2009 10:34
Rating: 5/5
britexpat

Given the high percentage of labour here , i am very surprised that "one in four expatriates is earning more than $200,000 per year"..

I know that I am one of the otehr three , but !

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