Qatar has approved a budget for 2007/2008 that forecasts a surplus of 6.744 billion riyals ($1.85 billion) on expenditure of 65.712 billion riyals, the state news agency QNA said.
The surplus forecast is up 193 per cent from the previous fiscal year’s budget forecast.
The budget of the Opec oil producer is based on a forecast oil price of $40 a barrel, up 11.1 per cent from $36 a barrel in the budget for the year which ended on March 31, the agency said.
Qatar, like fellow Gulf Arab oil exporters, usually adopts a conservative forecast for revenue from oil, a key source of income.
The budget forecasts a 27.3 per cent increase in revenue from the previous year and hikes government spending 20.3 per cent.
“Our target is still to continue economic development programmes in the coming years to establish a solid economic base,” QNA quoted Finance Minister Youssef Kamal as saying.
“We will intensify our effort to combat this phenomenon (inflation). We are aware of its big harming impact on the Qatari economy in general and on investment both domestic and foreign..,” he said
The country, which produces around 800,000 barrels per day of oil, has the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and has seen meteoric growth in the gas industry.
Qatar’s 2006 nominal gross domestic product grew at its third-fastest pace in at least five years on expansion of its oil and gas industry, according to data on the central bank website.
GDP for the fourth-largest Gulf Arab economy climbed to 191.9 billion riyals ($52.73 billion) from 154.6 billion in 2005, central bank data showed. The oil and gas sector grew 28.9 per cent to 118.7 billion riyals, its second-fastest pace of growth in at least five years.
Analysts in a Reuters survey in December estimated Qatar’s 2006 nominal GDP at an average of $51.7 billion.
Qatar plans to invest $75 billion in its oil and gas industry during the next five years, Qatar’s Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, said in April.
Analysts expected nominal GDP for Qatar, which holds the world’s third-largest gas reserves, to reach $57.7 billion this year.
