Qatar Economy

With years of significant budget surpluses, a stable macroeconomic environment, low government debt, political stability and a sizeable sovereign wealth fund, Qatar has continued to rank highly in the leading global indices.

One of the most important issues currently facing the Middle East is the changing composition of its demographic structure. A massive cohort of young people – known as a youth bulge – is challenging policy makers, with youth policy affecting security, education, the labour market and welfare programmes, among other areas. Given the relative...

Qatar enjoys one of the highest GDP per capita rankings in the world thanks largely to the wealth generated from oil and gas revenues, averaging approximately $100,000 per person. In addition to the local population experiencing one of the most rapid accumulations of wealth in the past century, the total population of the country has also...

Since Saudi Arabia began reducing its domestic wheat production in 2008, the issue of food security has been high on the agenda for GCC governments. The kingdom, which was once self-sufficient in grain and even exported to the wider region, recognised a fact that is true across the whole of the Arabian Peninsula: it is running out of water and...

Despite instability in the Middle East and the sharp drop in oil and gas prices, Qatar’s economy has maintained a solid growth rate through 2014, as the growth rate of GDP at constant prices reached about 6.1%. This is a favourable rate. Its importance is noticeable when compared with the growth rates in oil-exporting countries in the MENA...