Qatar’s economy delivered a strong performance in 2014 despite a major plunge in oil prices in the second half of the year, a new report says.
The non-oil sector will contribute to about 68.5 per cent of the nominal gross domestic product by 2017, Al-Arab paper says citing a report by QNB Group.
Economic growth will further expand, driven by low inflation, healthy budgets and a massive current account surplus.
According to recent data by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, the Arab Gulf nation economy grew by 6.2 per cent in 2014, the report notes.
The non-oil sector – the construction domain specifically – was the main driver of growth in 2016 growing by 11.5 per cent in addition to the finance and insurance fields, among others.
According to the analysis, the oil and gas sector shrunk by 1.5 per cent in 2014, mainly due to the closing of some production facilities for maintenance.
However, the analysis projects this sector to rebound and grow by 0.8 per cent in 2015 and 1.8 per cent in 2016.
Given its enormous financial resources, Qatar has enough external and internal buffers to continue pressing ahead with its massive investment program ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
AMEinfo
8 April
