Industry

Central to Qatar National Vision 2030, the country’s long-term development plan, is creating a competitive and diversified economy. The industrial sector plays a key role in this, broadening the scope of private sector activity, encouraging the shift to higher value-added activities and creating jobs in an increasingly knowledge and innovation-based economy. Recent times have seen the impact of the shift away from hydrocarbons dependency, despite the large share of Qatar’s GDP still contributed by its oil and gas sectors. Now though, with some industrial projects having been scaled down or put on hold due to lower oil and gas revenues in recent years, the sector has to demonstrate its resilience. Enhancing efficiency and cutting costs are thus major priorities, with leaner and more agile competitive industries the likely result. Furthermore, while the ongoing economic blockade of Qatar, which began in June 2017, presents a challenge, government entities and the private sector have pushed for initiatives to expand industries and establish new projects to boost local products and achieve self-sufficiency.