DOHA: Local non-oil private companies that directly received support under Qatar Development Bank’s (QDB) export promotion programme — Tasdeer — has increased their exports from QR597m ($164m) in 2011 to QR1.06bn ($291m) in 2012, witnessing a year-on-year increase of 77 percent, said a QDB press statement based on Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) data.
The programme initially focused on 67 companies accounting for 80 percent of total non-hydrocarbon export oriented firms.
Tasdeer was established in 2011 to support Qatari exports in line with the National Development Strategy 2011–2016, to facilitate and achieve economic diversification and private sector growth in Qatar. The programme has focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Qatari private sector to enable a combined export growth of 48 percent in 2012.
In 2011 and 2012 QDB’s Export Strategy identified Qatar’s growth products and target markets to drive exports, with a particular focus on Qatari SMEs. As part of the strategy, the exporting Qatari community, comprising 122 current and potential exporters (SMEs), was segmented into five categories based on factors such as current exports, nature of products and willingness to export.
Based on this classification, the bank initially focused on exporters belonging to segments A, B and C, constituting a total of 67 companies, accounting for over 80 percent of total non-oil exports from Qatar.
In 2012, as a result of QDB’s Export Development Strategy, 26 category A Qatari companies with exports above QR5m increased their exports by 50 percent, year-on-year, while 16 companies with exports between QR1 to 5m registered an increase of 13.5 percent during the same period.
Speaking about the success story of Tasdeer, Abdulaziz Nasser bin Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB, said: “The export development strategy has proved to be a success, generating significant growth in exports in the non-oil sector within just one year of its implementation.”
The Peninsula
