The economy of Qatar is moving towards brighter future. Minister of Finance H E Ali Shareef Al Emadi said yesterday that Qatar’s general budget for 2019 will show an estimated surplus. This demonstrate the strength of Qatar’s financial situation and shows that the country will continue to grow and achieve a sustainable development.
In a related development, S&P Global Ratings on Saturday announced to revise its outlook on Qatar to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ on the strength of the country’s macroeconomic resilience. The premier ratings agency also affirmed Qatar’s sovereign credit ratings at ‘AA-/A-1+’.
In its overview, S&P said Qatar has “effectively managed” the ongoing blockade’s impact on diplomatic ties and trade and transport links.
“We expect economic growth to accelerate and external accounts to remain in surplus from 2018-2021, except in the event of larger declines in oil prices,” S&P noted in its report.
Despite the temporary blockade-related setbacks, Qatar’s external balance sheet remains strong, with liquid external assets continuing to offset the country’s stock of external debt by a sizeable margin.
“We estimate that the fiscal balance will be in a small surplus in 2018 at the central government level. We expect the financing needs created at the central government level will be met largely by further debt issuance rather than drawing on assets,” the report said.
The data on the financial and economic sectors during the first six months of 2018 clearly point to a strong national economy, and prove, that Qatar has long overcome the repercussions of the unjust blockade as the GDP has already increased by 5.9 percent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
Qatar has started several initiatives and measures to develop the business and investment environment, to promote the economic growth and expand the role of the private sector.
Qatar offers many opportunities for investment and business development through initiatives promoting the investment and business environment and establishing free and economic zones that offer many benefits to investors.
The Qatari banking sector enjoys high levels of strength and flexibility and continues to achieve high growth rates due to its asset quality and high profitability levels.
The capital adequacy ratio exceeds the requirements of Basel III, while the ratio of non-performing debt continued at low levels below 2 percent.
Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2018-2022 provide a comprehensive framework for the future directions of the State. The proactive policies by the government authority will ensure that Qatar moves in the right direction.
