DOHA: Thanks to investments in FIFA 2022-linked infrastructure projects, Qatar’s non-hydrocarbons sector has been growing rapidly as part of a economic diversification strategy, according to Administrative Control and Transparency Authority Chairman H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah.
The share of the non-oil sector in the GDP by the year-end is expected to cross 50 percent-mark and the energy sector’s contribution to the national economy is likely to be 46.4 percent by year-end, Al Attiyah said.
Real GDP growth this year is expected to be 7. 5 percent, he told the Middle East Conference 2015 ‘Impact of Oil Prices Falling on the Middle East and North Africa’ in London yesterday, reports QNA. He said Qatar hoped to spend $225bn over the next five to seven years on projects, including the ongoing new port, rail and sports infrastructure projects,
He said FIFA-related projects were providing huge incentives for investment in non-oil and gas sectors.
Al Attiyah reviewed latest developments in oil prices and their impact on the exporting and importing countries, investment opportunities in Qatar and government efforts in the area of transparency and fight against corruption.
In a statement on the sidelines, he said oil prices had been fluctuating since 1985, when prices dropped significantly and that decline continued until 2000, when the average price of a barrel plunged to $18 and then began to climb gradually and reached over $115 and then began to fall, and these prices continued at that level for several years.
Al Attiyah said oil prices were not always stable and depended on factors such as the contraction of the global economy and the production of shale oil in the US.
He said in the global oil market there was currently a surplus of 2m barrels a day and that was putting pressure on prices, which are going down.
Al Attiyah said fluctuating oil prices were not considered a bad thing and must be handled and adapted, especially in the Gulf and North African countries where the cost of producing a barrel is less than in other countries and producers, especially shale oil production whose cost is high.
He stressed the need for adopting new policy for drafting and controlling budget and financial reforms to cope with the situation.
In his keynote speech before the meeting, Al Attiyah said Qatar’s investments aimed to expand production capacity, covering crude oil, liquefied natural gas, refined products and petrochemicals industry. Qatar’s investments in the energy sector in the past five years exceeded $80bn, he said.
THE PENINSULA
