Home to the world’s third largest natural gas reserves, Qatar’s economy has enjoyed meteoric growth for much of the past five years on the back of rising oil and gas sales. The country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports rose from $18.7bn in 2007 to almost $62bn in 2011.
Income from LNG exports has transformed this tiny peninsula into the world’s wealthiest country – Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita surpassed the $100,000 threshold in 2011 ($102,900) and is now 20% higher than Luxembourg ($84,800). But as a decade of investment in building up LNG infrastructure comes to fruition, the next 10 years will see a shift in focus to heavy investment in infrastructure and development projects.