FX.co ★ Qatar: features of the outcast country's economy

At present, Qatar, one of the major states of the Middle East, is going through difficult times. A number of countries severed diplomatic relations with it.

In Qatar, the oil production is developed. It has been conducting since 1935. The proven reserves of black gold - 2.7 billion tons - account for 1.5% of the world's supplies. Qatar is a member of OPEC. The state is also considered the largest exporter of LNG in the world. In 2016, the export of blue fuel reached 77.2 million tons - one-third of global supplies. Qatar's gas reserves rank third in the world after Iran and Russia.

According to the World Bank estimates for 2015, the Qatar GDP was $164.6 billion, exports - $77.3 billion, while the share of oil and gas was 37%. According to OPEC, the GDP of this state is $68,765 per capita. In the Doing Business ranking, Qatar ranks 83rd, outperforming the neighbors: UAE (26th), Bahrain (63rd) and Oman (66th).

Qatar has the largest air base in the Middle East. It has 120 aircraft, including the B-52 Stratofortress bombers. They appeared in Qatar in April 2016 to confront the ISIS terrorist organization (banned in the Russian Federation). It is from this base the flights to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries originate.

The largest public companies in Qatar are Qatar National Bank ($11.7 billion, capitalization $37.7 billion), Ooredoo Telecom ($8.9 billion, capitalization $9.1 billion) and Commercial Bank of Qatar ($1.7 billion, capitalization $3.4 Billion).

One of the leading Arabic TV channels Al Jazeera was created in Qatar. It is watched by at least 310 million households in 100 countries; broadcasting takes place in many languages of the world. The popularity of the TV channel in a number of European and Asian countries is very high.

One of the largest transactions of the company from Qatar on the Russian market is the acquisition of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft by the sovereign investment fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) together with Glencore. The amount of this transaction amounted to 10.2 billion euros.

According to the Citigroup experts, in the short term, Qatar, which has extensive natural resources, will easily cope with the crisis. However, the recent confrontation is considered by them as potentially much more dangerous than the severance of diplomatic relations with some countries from March to November 2014. At the moment, economic measures already apply to Qatar, such as the abolition of flights and the closure of borders.

In the long term, food prices may increase in Qatar, as the lion's share of it is imported through Saudi Arabia, noted in Citigroup. According to the experts' forecasts, Qatar expects a slowdown in the growth of the economy, which is highly dependent on construction, which needs foreign components and labor. At the same time, the banking sector may suffer, in which the external debt soared to $105 billion.