Qatar raises 2013 economic growth forecast to 6 pct

Reuters    Translate This Article
16 December 2013

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar's economy is likely to grow 6.0 percent this year, slightly faster than previously forecast, partly because of higher gas production, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics said in a report on Monday.

Gross domestic product growth in the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas is forecast to ease to 4.6 percent in 2014 as output from maturing oil fields contracts and gas production levels out, the report showed.

However, vigorous investment spending, an expansionary fiscal stance and a continuing influx of workers to Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, will sustain strong domestic demand, the ministry said.

In their previous economic outlook, released in June, Qatari authorities forecast 2013 growth of 5.3 percent and 2014 growth of 4.5 percent, down from 6.2 percent in 2012.

Government spending is projected to rise 10.8 percent in 2013 against the latest preliminary outcomes for calendar year 2012, and by 11.6 percent in calendar 2014, reaching 30.7 percent of GDP, the report also said.

'Government expenditure realised in the first half suggests that the full-year outturn may exceed the budgeted amount, even though capital disbursements have so far been slower relative to the same period in the previous year,' Minister Saleh al-Nabit said in the report, referring to the current fiscal year.

The OPEC member boosted budget spending by 17.9 percent to a record 210.6 billion riyals ($57.8 billion) for the 2013/14 fiscal year, which started in April. The ministry is using the calendar year for the fiscal outlook in its latest report.

The fiscal surplus is expected to drop to 3.8 percent of GDP in calendar 2014, less than the 4.7 percent seen in the June report, from a downwardly revised 6.1 percent in 2013. In its previous report, the ministry forecast a surplus of 8.1 percent of GDP this year.

Qatar, which pegs its riyal currency to the U.S. dollar, plans to spend some $140 billion on infrastructure, including a new airport, roads and stadiums in the next decade, partly in preparation to host the World Cup.

Inflation is expected to average 3.2 percent in 2013, up from 1.9 percent in 2012 due to rising rental costs, then pick up further to 3.5 percent in 2014. The ministry's previous forecast was 3.6 percent for both 2013 and 2014.

'Inflationary pressures are unlikely to subside in 2014. The inflationary impact of vigorous growth of domestic demand is expected to offset an expected moderation in global food and commodity prices and subdued inflation in trading-partner countries,' the report said.

Analysts polled by Reuters in September forecast Qatar's GDP would grow 5.3 percent in 2013 and 5.1 percent in 2014, and inflation would reach 3.5 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.

(Reporting by Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Andrew Torchia, Larry King)

© Copyright 2013 Reuters

Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. 'Reuters' and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. For additional information on other Reuters media services please visit reuters.com/newsagency.

Every day Global Good News documents the rise of a better quality of life dawning in the world from good news reported by the press; and highlights the need for introducing Natural Law based-Total Knowledge based-programmes to bring the support of Nature to every individual, raise the quality of life of every society, and create a lasting state of world peace.



Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google) Select a language English to Afrikaans English to Albanian English to Arabic English to Belarusian English to Bulgarian English to Catalan English to Chinese (Simplified) English to Chinese (Traditional) English to Croatian English to Czech English to Danish English to Dutch English to Estonian English to Filipino English to Finnish English to French English to Galician English to German English to Greek English to Hebrew English to Hindi English to Hungarian English to Icelandic English to Indonesian English to Irish English to Italian English to Japanese English to Korean English to Latvian English to Lithuanian English to Macedonian English to Malay English to Maltese English to Norwegian English to Persian English to Polish English to Portuguese English to Romanian English to Russian English to Serbian English to Slovak English to Slovenian English to Spanish English to Swahili English to Swedish English to Thai English to Turkish English to Ukrainian English to Vietnamese English to Welsh English to Yiddish

(Altavista babelfish) Select a languageEnglish to Chinese-simpEnglish to Chinese-tradEnglish to DutchEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to GreekEnglish to ItalianEnglish to JapaneseEnglish to KoreanEnglish to RussianEnglish to Spanish

Send Good News to Global Good News.

Your comments.