Qatari economy scores highest credit ratings: Qatar Chamber

The Qatar Chamber (QC) has reported that Qatar’s economy has remained efficient and shown great resilience to manage the COVID-19 crisis and the steep decline in oil prices during 2020.

In its economic newsletter for the month of January, the body stated that the Qatari economy’s resilience has been reiterated by several international agencies who have given the country the highest credit ratings worldwide.

Qatar was also praised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its swift response in implementing containment measures which assisted in curbing the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. IMF expects the Qatari GDP to grow 2.7 percent in 2021 supported by the growing natural gas production, recovering domestic demand, and  the economy’s ability to quickly recover from the consequences of the pandemic.

Economic Statistics

Data shared by Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) for November 2020 has reported that the country’s total value of foreign merchandise trade increased by 2.1 percent to reach $6.62 billion when compared to the previous month.

Qatar’s total exports of goods including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports also witnessed a growth of 8.5 percent to touch $4.56 billion, compared to the month of October 2020 where the figure stood at $4.20 billion.

Key parameters 

• Qatar’s imports for November 2020 were $2.06 billion, 9.6 percent lower when compared to the previous month which clocked $2.28 billion in imports.
• The country’s trade balance (the difference between total exports and imports) showed a surplus of $2.50 billion, a 30 percent rise compared to the previous month’s number of $1.92 billion.
• China was the top country in terms of destination for Qatar’s foreign trade with a trading volume of $1.07 billion representing 16.2 percent of the state’s total foreign trade.
• The private sector’s exports of aluminum topped the list of exports with a 29.6 percent share of the total value.
• Asian countries were at the top of economic blocs that received the maximum exports of the private sector amounting to $186.49 million with a share of 57.72 percent of the total value, followed by EU states with exports of $77.73 million, a share of 24.1 percent.