The resilience of Qatar’s strong economy has been once again been validated. The Arab Monetary Fund expects the Qatari economy to grow by 4.4 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2023, supported by the boom in activities related to the country’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and the growth of non-hydrocarbon activities, in addition to its vital role in the global gas market.
The fund said in a report that it expect inflation in Qatar will record about 4.3 percent during the current year. The report also expected that the growth rate of Arab economies would collectively be about 5.4 percent in 2022, compared to 3.5 percent in 2021.
The rise was driven mainly by an increase in global demand levels, high growth rates in the oil and gas sector, and the continuation of Arab governments to adopt stimulus packages to support economic recovery whose value exceeded $400bn during the period (2020-2022).
Data released from the Ministry of Finance showed that revenues of the oil and gas sector in the State of Qatar increased 67 percent in the first half of 2021. The oil and gas revenues increased to QR117.6bn, compared to QR70.4bn in the first half of 2021. The figure helped the country reach a budget surplus of QR47.3bn, compared to QR4bn in the first half of last year. A total of QR 33.7bn of the surplus was recorded in the second quarter.
Total revenues achieved, during the first half of this year, reached a level of QR150.7bn, with QR 85.7bn coming in the second quarter, and QR 65bn in the first.
There was a total of QR 33.1bn of non-oil revenues, with QR 27.5bn coming in the second quarter of the year and QR 5.6bn in the first.
Total expenditures amounted to QR103.4bn during the first half of 2022, distributed over QR 52bn during the second quarter and QR 51.4bn during the first quarter, of which QR 32.9bn were salaries and wages. Spending on main projects came in at QR35.1bn in the first half.
The exports from Qatar continue to show an upward trend.
According to preliminary figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority, in May 2022, the total exports of goods including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports amounted to around QR45.3bn, showing an increase of 81.9 percent compared to May 2021, and an increase of 4.3 percent compared to April 2022.
