Qatar has earned several international appreciations for its economic diversification plans from many quarters. The country has weathered many storms with its well-planned and well-crafted policies and achieved greater acclaim for its efforts.
Several international agencies as well as economic leaders around the world praised efforts of the leadership of Qatar to diversify economy from oil-based to more diversified one with due importance giving to the non-oil based economy.
These efforts were taken much before the international prices of crude were tapering a couple of years back. And it became more relevant during the unjust siege imposed on the country by a group of nation.
The recent comment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) official is the latest testimony of how Qatar’s diversification plans are paying off. IMF Middle East and North Africa Department Director, Mohammed El Qorchi, said the State of Qatar has substantial capacities to diversify its economy, pointing to the efforts made by Qatar for various investment programmes as well as projects related to hosting the 2022 World Cup.
He added that IMF believes Qatar’s policy towards economic diversification has been good, and is nothing new for the country as the Qatari economy had previous plans in this respect.
IMF head Christine Lagarde also said during her last visit to Qatar that the steady growth in Qatar’s non-oil economy is a reflection of the country’s good diversification policy.
Qatar’s economy is projected to expand at the fastest pace in the GCC region. According to various estimates and with rising oil prices, the real GDP growth is projected to grow at 3.1 percent in 2018, up from 2.5 percent in 2017.
As for the Qatari banking system and its handling of the Gulf crisis, the IMF official said that it is very strong and handled the Gulf crisis firmly, noting that Qatar Central Bank played a pivotal role in the crisis as it assisted the Qatari banks during the liquidity crunch.
It’s known that the Qatari banks are strong and have a substantial capital and profit, highlighting the strength of the balance of payments, which made the Qatari economy strong.
The unjust blockade on Qatar continues and it’s going to be a year next month, but various data shows that Qatar’s economy has remained resilient and motivated the country to get into deeper trade and diplomatic ties with a wide range of partners beyond their immediate geographical neighbourhood, which could pay long-term dividends.
All these positive developments happened due to the far-sighted approach of the Qatari leadership as well as the considerable flexibility and ability of the local companies to adapt their efforts to overcome the effects of the siege that did not weaken their operations but rather strengthened their innovations. For the steady growth of the economy and the development of any country, a peaceful cooperation and regional stability is needed.
