India, Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore are the major export markets for Qatar with exports to these five Asian countries totalling 27.9 billion Qatari Rial (QR) as of May, according to a report.
Qatari exports to India accounted for QR 5.67 billion, China QR 3.04 billion and Singapore QR 2.64 billion. All these countries import significant volumes of Qatar's hydrocarbon products.
Japan accounted for QR 9.28 billion of exports while South Korea received worth QR 7.28 billion produce as of last month, according to the data released by the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics (MDP&S).
The top five import markets for Qatar are China, US, UAE, Germany and the UK.
Qatar's three major export commodities are petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons, petroleum oil and oil obtained from bituminous minerals (crude as well as non-crude).
Major import commodities include motor cars and other motor vehicles, iron ores and concentrates and aircraft spare parts, the Gulf Times report said.
A recent Qatar Consumer Confidence Index released by the Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics showed Qatar's economic development that supports private sector in development projects, consequent job opportunities and better income and allowances, led the country reporting higher consumer confidence in the first quarter of this year.
The report showed that 46.7 per cent of households felt that their financial situation improved over the past 12 months compared to 47.4 per cent in December 2013 survey results.
Also 45.7 per cent of households felt their financial situation was the same as 12 months before compared to 37.8 per cent in December 2013.
Qatar is expected to have a 'solid' economic growth in 2014 and 2015, driven by the non-hydrocarbon sector owing to accelerated investment spending and population growth, the MDP&S said in another report.
The country's real GDP (adjusted for inflation) is slated to grow at 6.3 per cent this year from 6.5 per cent in 2013, and 7.8 per cent in 2015, according to the Qatar Economic Outlook 2014-15 report.
Business Standard
2 July
