Doha: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued law No. 10 of 2022 approving the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2023. The law is effective as of January 1, 2023, and shall be published in the official gazette.
Minister of Finance H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari said that the total revenue estimates in the fiscal year 2023 budget amount to QR228bn, a 16.3 percent increase compared to the 2022 budget estimates, the expenditure estimates reach QR199bn and QR29bn budget surplus.
In a press statement yesterday, the Minister of Finance attributed the increase in public revenues mainly to the adoption of an average oil price of $ 65 per barrel for 2023 instead of $55 per barrel in the 2022 budget, due to the remarkable recovery in global energy prices during 2022, in addition, that the international institutions’ estimates suggest that the energy prices will continue to rise over the medium term.
The Minister said that based on that, the estimates of total oil and gas revenues for 2023 amount to QR186bn, compared to QR154bn for 2022, a 20.8 percent increase, adding that the estimates of non-oil revenues for 2023 are kept constant, compared to the 2022 budget at QR42bn.
Regarding the expenditures in the fiscal year 2023 budget, he said that the expenditures decrease by 2.6 percent from 2022 to reach QR199bn, coinciding with the completion of most of the costs of hosting the World Cup, adding that the allocations for salaries and wages in the 2023 budget increase by QR4bn from 2022 to reach QR62.5bn, a 6.3 percent increase.
The allocations for major projects for 2023 decreased by 13.6 percent, compared to 2022, to reach QR63.9bn. The allocations for the current expenditure section slightly increase from QR67.2bn to QR67.5bn. The secondary capital expenditures slightly increase from QR4.6bn to QR5.1bn.
Also, the Minister of Finance indicated that the state continues to focus on the health and education sectors, with QR21.1bn has been allocated to the health sector, about 11 percent of the total expenditures, and QR18.1bn has been allocated to the education sector, nearly 9 percent of the total expenditures.
