Qatar Economy Grew by 11% in 09

Qatar’s economy grew 11% in 2009, mainly due to its natural gas sector, the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, was quoted as saying.

Qatar is set to outperform key players in the world’s top oil producing region – Saudi Arabia and the UAE– in coming years due to massive expansion of its gas facilities.

Al-Attiyah, who is also the country’s energy minister, did not say whether the growth was in real or nominal terms and did not give further details in comments published on the website.

Qatar was expected to grow 8% in 2009 and 12.5% in real terms this year, a Reuters poll showed, after a 16.4% expansion in 2008.

Qatar’s policymakers had been expecting gross domestic product to jump 9% and 16% in fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively.

The fiscal year in Qatar, which pegs its currency to the dollar, starts in April. “Asian emerging economies are lining up for the Qatari gas,” said Farah Ahmed Hersi, senior economist at Masraf Al Rayan in Doha.

“The economy is pretty robust and it will grow constantly in double digits over the next few years.”

Qatar’s nominal GDP rose 11% in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, but fell 28.3% on an annual basis, preliminary estimates from its statistics office showed in December 2009.- Gulf Times