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Qatar economy to remain robust in 2009
With the exception of Qatar, all major gulf economies are likely to witness steep decline in economic growth due to falling crude rates in the global markets.
Economic growth in UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have already forecasted slow down to 3 percent. However, Qatar has announced strong economic growth for the current year, with a huge 28 percent growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) for the current year.
The Executive Director of Tanmiyat Group, Dr. Rasim Khaan Aytogu, said that high inflation and tight credit markets are sure to hit the economic growth in UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. However, the Gulf region being more reliant on oil revenues, the economies are affected to a certain extent.
The situation is more challenging now, as the demand for oil is getting reduced, as global recession has compelled crude exporting countries to resort to production cuts. The growth in the second largest Gulf economy, the UAE, is likely to decrease 2.7% this year from 6.8 percent last year.
This slowdown in UAE is further worsened by job layoffs in Dubai, as the emirate suffers from property market correction, Aytogu pointed out.
Qatar has been witnessing an economic boom and emerging as the global hub of liquefied natural gas (LNG) products. Hence, while the rest of the world is experiencing recessionary pressure, the economic situation in Qatar continues to remain robust, due to its share of LNG and other hydrocarbon products increasing considerably.
However, the economic outlook for the rest of GCC is that, inflation would ease. The HSBC confirmed that the Gulf Arab Oil Producers are known to witness an abrupt slowdown in economic growth during the current year.
HSBC has predicted that oil prices are likely to average to $45 per barrel this year, less than half the average 2008 price, compelling Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia to run fiscal deficits, while they try to sustain their economies.
The GDP growth in Qatar, the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world is likely to fall to 9.8% this year, from 15.2% in 2008. However, this is still much higher when compared to the growth rates projected by 0.8% in Saudi Arabia, 1.1% in UAE and 0.9% in Kuwait.
Posted on 19/1/2009
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