Doha: Qatar’s economy in 2020 demonstrated the country’s resilience and competence during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant decline of oil prices. This was amplified by international indicators which have unanimously agreed that Qatar has obtained the highest credit ratings worldwide, Qatar Chamber (QC) has said in its latest monthly economic newsletter for January 2021.
The newsletter, which was prepared by the QC’s Research & Studies Department, highlights 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 International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Qatar’s GDP to grow by 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 report also highlighted the growing economic relations between Qatar and the UK.
Citing data by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) for November 2020, the report noted that the total value of foreign merchandise trade in Qatar reached QR24.1bn, showing an increase of 2.1 percent compared to QR23.6bn in October 2020.
In November 2020, the total exports of goods, including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports, amounted to around QR16.6bn, showing an increase of 8.5 percent compared to QR15.3bn in October, while imports during the same month amounted to around QR7.5bn, showing a decrease of 9.6 percent compared to QR8.3bn in October.
Qatar’s trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QR9.1bn, recording an increase of 30 percent compared to QR7bn in October.
In November 2020, China was at the top of the countries of destination of Qatar’s foreign trade with about QR3.9bn, 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 QR1.176bn, showing a decrease of 5.2 percent compared to QR1.240bn in October.
This decline is attributed to the decline in exports through the GSP model which decreased by QR81m compared to QR276m in October, while exports through the General Model, Unified Arab Model and Unified GCC increased by 14.9 percent, 13.75 and 6.1 percent 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 percent share of the total value, followed by Essential & Industrial oils with 21.1 percent and industrial gases with 14 percent.
Chemical fertilisers come in the fourth place with 11.3 percent and paraffin with 7 percent 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 QR259m, a share of 22 percent of the total exports.
It was followed by Netherlands with almost QR214m and a share of 18.23 percent and Bangladesh with about QR127m, a share of 10.77 percent.
Turkey came in fourth place with almost QR89.2m, a share of 7.59 percent and Oman with about QR88.9m, a share of 7.3 percent.
Asian countries were at the top of economic blocs that received exports of private sector amounting to QR679m, with a share of 57.72 percent of the total value, followed by EU states with a share of 24.10 percent with exports of QR283m.
In third place came the group of GCC states, with exports totaling QR111m representing 9.43 percent of the total value, followed by Arab countries excluding GCC states that received QR89m, a share of 7.57 percent, and African countries excluding Arab countries with exports amounting to QR11m, a share of 0.9 percent.
