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This chapter contains an overview of the tax framework in which local and foreign investors operate in Qatar, including a rundown of the tax rules that apply to businesses and how moves to widen the tax base are likely to affect future policy. This chapter contains a viewpoint from Wadih AbouNasr, Country Senior Partner, PwC Qatar.

The combination of high disposable income, a growing population and rising tourist arrivals makes Qatar an attractive market for retailers of all segments. On the back of real GDP growth of 3.7% in 2015, private consumption was expected to have expanded by 9.5% in 2015, according to BMI Research. This surge is projected to continue, with household spending forecast to increase by an average of 15.8% per year through to 2020. Such momentum largely depends on broader growth in retail trade, hotels and restaurants, for which combined sales rose by 10.47% to reach $15.82bn in 2015, or 9.2% of GDP, according to figures from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics and the Qatar Central Bank. This chapter contains an interview with Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Rabban, Chairman, Business Trading Company; and Partner, Place Vendôme, Qatar.

Qatar has cultivated significant soft power over the last decade by hosting international events, stepping up to play a role in diplomatic mediation and developing itself into a regional and global media hub. In the mid-1990s the authorities took ambitious steps in establishing the news network Al Jazeera, which has gone on to become a highly regarded cornerstone of international broadcasting. Building on this success, the media sector has developed into a vibrant industry, evolving along with the global media landscape. Indeed, the push in recent years for the production of local, original, multi-platform content, including films, commercials, TV programmes and videos for the web, has fed into the state’s wider economic diversification goals of building up the knowledge-based sectors considered crucial to future sustainable growth. This chapter contains an interview with Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO, Doha Film Institute.

In the past decade or more, Qatar has started to assert itself in the world of global sports. It has achieved this mainly through its athletics federation and Olympic committee with the country’s winning bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup evidence of the increasingly prominent role that sport is taking in Qatar. The government has also made efforts to expand the role of sports and related industries, such as sports medicine, logistics and security, to create more opportunities for high-value, skilled labour in the country. It is hoped that the increasing popularity of sports in Qatar will encourage its citizens to pursue more active and healthy lifestyles. If this is the case, the sector has a lot of potential, not only to bolster overall economic growth, but also to improve the well being of residents.

The large-scale investments of the past half-decade look set to continue driving Qatar’s health sector in 2016. With a rapidly rising population and household incomes well above the developed-world average, public and private sector outlays are on track to keep rising alongside a state-led push to raise quality and expand services. As the public sector enters a new cost-optimisation phase in the wake of the oil price drop, the government is increasingly looking to the private sector to fill areas of need, particularly those stemming from the rise of lifestyle-related diseases, such as diabetes and cancer. This chapter contains an interview with Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health.

Human development is one of the four pillars of the country’s economic blueprint, Qatar National Vision 2030, with the 2011-16 National Development Strategy highlighting the importance of education in driving the state’s push toward a knowledge-based economy. Efforts to raise the standards of education in Qatar have been gathering pace and over the past decade the country has introduced a decentralised public school system, supported the development of a vibrant private school segment and invested significantly in tertiary education initiatives. Moving forward, a combination of government commitment, key partnerships with non-state stakeholders and increasing demand for education are set to maintain the sector’s pace of development. This chapter contains an interview with Ahmad Hasnah, President, Hamad bin Khalifa University.