Economic Sectors

The Oil & Natural Gas Sectors Manufacturing industry Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Building and Construction Trade, Restaurants and Hotels Transport and Communications Electricity and Water Agriculture and Fisheries

Overview :-

The Qatar’s economy is ecxpected to witness promising growthin in this year 2009. Qatari economy’s vulnerability to oil price movements, as well as the finite nature of oil reserves has led the Government to exploit Qatar’s significant reserves of natural gas and to promote investment in the non-oil sector of the economy to lead to diversification efforts provides the momentum for reshaping the economy. According to the Qatar Statistics Authority, the economy of Qatar has achieved a remarkable growth during the second quarter, April/June 2008 in various economic activities, Estimates indicate the "GDP" reached QR 96,169 Billion, compared with QR 59,820 Billion during corresponding quarter, April/June 2007 with a growth rate of 60.76%, While it reached QR 84,309 Billion during the preceding quarter, January/March 2008, with a growth rate of 15.35 % .

Qatar is one of the very few countries expecting growth this year, amidst the changing global economic climate, making it a very attractive destination for real estate investments both for commercial and residential properties. In addition to its strong economic standing, Qatar is also implementing freehold property laws for foreigners, which has increased investor confidence towards the State. Government officials believe that there will be about 800 towers in the country by 2016, as increasing disposable incomes and favourable legislation continue to drive the real estate growth.

Qatar’s oil price has more than trebled to average $106.8 p/b during the first half of 2008.it increased by 11.3% in 2007 to average $70.0 p/b in 2007, compared to $62.9 p/b in 2006.The State of Qatar conducts its principal oil operations through State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP),which manages Qatar’s oil, gas, fertiliser, petrochemicals and refining enterprises in Qatar and abroad. Qatar’s oil reserves as at December 2007 stood at 25.7 billion barrels QP has in its new five-year plan (2008 - 2012), budgeted an overall QR 222.7 billion for projects in crude oil, natural gas, gas-to-liquids, refining, petrochemicals, industrial cities and others.Qatar currently has the second largest natural gas reserves in the world, after Russia, estimated at over 900 tcf. These reserves are located in the North Field which lies towards the North-East Of the main land, extending over an area of approximately 6,000 square kilometers, predominantly underlying the territorial waters of the State of Qatar.QP has initiated and developed two major LNG projects with foreign shareholders for the purpose of utilizing the North Field gas for exports in the form of LNG.These projects are Qatargas and RasGas. QP has more recently entered into joint Venture agreements for further utilizing the natural gas resources, by using advanced technology to convert gas into globally marketable liquid products.

In addition to its roles as the basis for the LNG industry, and as a fuel input for power generation, natural gas is used in a wide range of industries as feedstock to produce various value-added products for both domestic consumption and exports. These projects among others include QAFCO, QAPCO, QVC, QAFAC and Q-Chem

 the Manufacturing sector made the third largest contribution to GDP among non-oil and gas sectors. This sector grew by 20.8% on 2007.at current prices, contributing QR 14,098 million in 2007, which represented 7.3% of total GDP. This sector supported by the Government as a part of a general policy to diversify income sources and to maximise the utilization of Qatar’s natural resources.

this sectors made the largest contribution to GDP among the non-oil and gas sectors. This sector is comprised of five sub-sectors: banking, insurance, financialintermediation services, real estate and business services. In terms of relative contribution to GDP,this sector contributed QR 31,865 million, and grew by 49.0% at current prices in 2007. This sectorepresented 12.3% of Qatar’s GDP in 2007.

 the Building and Construction sector is quite evident around Doha over the past few years,  this sector continues to be a major contributor to the GDP and employment of labor force. This sector witnessed a growth of 22.0% in 2007, contributing QR 14,634 million to overall GDP.Credit facilities extended by commercial banks to the land, housing and construction sector increased in 2007by Credit facilities extended by commercial banks to the land, housing and construction sector increased by 77.6% during the year 2007 to reach QR 27,966 million, compared to QR 15,745 million in 2006.Allocation for major public projects in the2008/09 Budget increased by 160.0% to reach QR 59.5 billion, which covers the areas of public services, infrastructure, social and health services, education and youth welfare.

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The Trade, Restaurants and Hotels sector contributed QR 12,002 million to Qatar’s overall GDP in2007, representing 4.6% of total GDP.This sector grew by 27.0% in 2007 will be one of the most promising in the coming years, as business, cultural, sports, education and tourism events aimed at promoting Qatar, gathers even more momentum.By organizing various festivities and taking part in various international tourism marts. For more information please visit www.experienceqatar.com

This sector contributed QR 9,803 million to the overall GDP in 2007, and witnessed a growth of 36.9%. Qatar Airways www.qatarairways.com is the principal airline operating from Qatar, designated as the “National Carrier”, and is a joint public and private sector enterprise (being 50% owned by the Government). It currently flies to over 80 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East.

The Gulf Air is www.gulfairco.com  is another major airline operating from Qatar and is owned by Oman, Bahrain and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The Supreme Council for Information and Communications Technology (ictQatar) is the telecommunications regulating authority in Qatar as per Law No. (34) of 2006.www.ict.gov.qa

The Qatar Telecom (Q-Tel) www.qtel.com.qa under license, is currently the sole Provider in Qatar.Qatar Telecom (Q-Tel) under licence was the sole owner and operator of all national and international services. With the opening up of the telecom sector in early 2007, a new mobile operating license is currently under bidding with a new operator to be announced by the last quarter of 2007.

The Electricity and Water sector witnessed a growth of 23.2% in 2007, contributing QR 4,329 million to Qatar’s overall GDP. Most of Qatar’s electricity generation capacity comprises of gas turbines, which are fuelled by natural gas. Water desalination is achieved in tandem with electricity Generation.Ras Abu Fontas-B Plant, Qatarcurrently has an electricity generation capacity of 3,737 MW and a water generation capacity of 187 million gallons per day.

Agriculture and Fisheries

The Agriculture and Fishing sector has traditionally played only a minor role in the modern Qatari economy because of unsuitable weather and environmental conditions. Cultivable land accounts foronly approximately 0.7% of Qatar’s total surface area. This sector grew by 7.3% in 2007, contributing QR 250 million to Qatar’s GDP.