25-01-2021
The Qatari economy achieves the highest credit ratings in the world
Qatar Chamber has issued its monthly economic newsletter for January 2020
which highlighted the most prominent trends in the Qatari economy, as well as statistics related to foreign trade and trade of private sector in November 2020.
The newsletter, prepared by QCs Research & Studies Department, highlighted a report about the Qatari economy in 2020 indicating that it has shown great resilience and efficiency during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the significant decline of oil prices.
The report said that this has been obvious through the international indicators which have unanimously agreed that the Qatari economy has obtained the highest credit ratings worldwide.
In this connection, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected Qatar’s GDP to grow 2.7 percent in 2021 with the help of growing natural gas production and a rebound in domestic demand, as well as the economy’s ability to quickly recover from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IMF also praised the state’s swift response in implementing containment measures which helped limit the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The QC’s newsletter also outlined a report on the Brexit and another on the economic relations between Qatar and the UK.
The newsletter said that according to the figures given by The Planning and Statistics Authority for November 2020, the total the value of foreign merchandise trade statistics amounted to QR 24.1 billion, showing an increase of 2.1 % compared to October 2020, which amounted to QR 23.6 billion.
In November 2020, the total exports of goods (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QR 16.6 billion, showing an increase of 8.5 % compared to QR 15.3 billion in October, while imports during the same month amounted to around QR 7.5 billion, showing a decrease of 9.6 % compared to QR 8.3 billion in October.
Therefore, the country’s trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR 9.1 billion, recording an increase of 30 % compared to QR 7 billion in October.
In November 2020, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QR 3.9 billion, a share of 16.2 percent of the state’s total foreign trade.
The report also featured the trade of private sector during November 2020 according to the certificate of origin issued by the Chamber which reached QR 1,176 billion, showing a decrease of 5.2 percent compared to QR 1,240 billion in October.
This decline is attributed to the decline in exports through the GSP model which decreased by QR 81 million compared to QR 276 million in October, while exports through the General Model, Unified Arab Model and Unified GCC increased by 14.9%, 13.75 and 6.1% respectively.
The value of exports in November increased by 105 percent compared to April, the lowest month of the year, while it decreased by 69 percent compared to February, the highest month of 2020.
According to the type of commodities, the private sector’s exports of aluminum topped the list of exports with 29.6% share of the total value, followed by Essential & Industrial oils with 21.1% and industrial gases with 14%.
Chemical fertilizers come in the fourth place with 11.3% and paraffin with 7% of the total value.
In November 2020, India was at the top of the countries of destination of private sector’s exports with close to QR 259 million, a share of 22 percent of the total exports.
It was followed by Netherland with almost QR 214 million and a share of 18.23 percent and Bangladesh with about QR 127 million, a share of 10.77 percent.
Turkey came in fourth place with almost QR 89.2 million, a share of 7.59 percent and Oman with about QR 88.9 million, a share of 7.3 percent.
At the level of blocs and groupings, Asian countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector amounted to QR 679 million with a share of 57.72 % of the total value, followed by EU states with a share of 24.10% with exports of QR 283 million.
In third place came the group of GCC states, with exports totaling QR 111 million representing 9.43 % of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received 89 million, a share of 7.57 percent and African Countries excluding Arab countries with exports amounted to 11 million, a share of 0.9 percent.
The group of other European countries, other American countries and Other American countries received exports of values 0.14%, 0.08 and 0.07% respectively.
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