The bilateral economic ties between Qatar and the US are robust and deep. The level of economic partnership between two countries has reached QR673bn ($185bn), which is expected to double in the coming years, said Qatar’s Embassy in the US.
Given the size of Qatari economy, the figure is very big as Qatar’s nominal GDP (estimate) itself stood at about $183bn (over QR666bn) in 2018. The US is already one of Qatar’s largest investment destination, and one of the leading partners, with the bilateral trade volume reaching to s new peak level in 2019.
“Our economic partnership is more than $185bn and we’re planning to double this number. We have a lot of investments in the US. We trust the economy here. We do a lot in infrastructure and we’re planning to do more investments,” noted the Embassy on its official twitter handle.
The Qatar-US bilateral trade volume reached to all-time high in 2019 breaching the previous peak level recorded in 2014. The total value of goods exchanged between the two countries during the year jumped to nearly QR30bn ($8.15bn), registering a double-digit growth of 36 percent (year-on-year) compared to QR21.84bn ($5.99bn) in 2018, latest official data show.
The two-way trade exchange between Qatar and the US has reached over QR7.89bn ($2.17bn) during the first five months of this year despite the COVID-19 measures and lockdowns in place. The US trade surplus against Qatar stood at QR3.07bn ($843.2m) from January- May 2020.
Qatar’s imports from the US stood at $1.50bn during the period, while its exports to the world’s largest economy stood at $662.6m, according to the latest available data published by the US Census Bureau on its official website. The trade was skewed in favor of the US. The US trade surplus against Qatar in 2019 reached at QR17.34bn ($4.76bn), which is also the all-time high, registering a sharp jump of 67 percent compared to QR10.4bn ($2.85bn) for the corresponding period the previous year (2018).
The total value of US exports of goods to Qatar in 2019 stood at QR23.52bn ($6.46bn)—all-time high—, while its imports from Qatar reached at QR6.15bn ($1.69bn) (second highest ever), and slightly higher compared to $1.57bn in 2018. The remarkable growth in annual bilateral trade volume in 2019 can be attributed to a significant surge in US exports of goods to Qatar, especially during the last two months of the year 2019. The combined value of US exports of goods for the last two months of 2019 was significantly high at QR7.88bn ($2.16bn)—November ($773.5m) and December ($1.39bn). The exceptional exchange of goods in 2019 breached the previous peak trade volume which was recorded in 2014.
The bilateral trade volume in 2014 had reached $6.91bn (QR25.16bn) with US exports to Qatar at $5.17bn and imports at $1.74bn. The US trade surplus with Qatar in 2014 had stood at $3.43bn. When compared to 2014 figures, the trade volume in 2019 was nearly 18 percent higher. The US exports to Qatar constitute a major part of the local economy, while the US continues to heavily export advanced technologies such as commercial aircraft, vehicles, heavy equipment, and satellite and communications equipment.
The US is also a leading investor in Qatar’s oil and gas sector helping produce more than two-thirds of the country’s LNG output. The bilateral trade and economic cooperation is expected to reach new highs with a significant jump in trade volumes in the coming years as both sides are working very closely and aggressively to expand and deepen the relationship in new areas, including more cooperation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector.
The Peninsula
27/07/2020
