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Middle EastJune 1 2004

Economy rises

Abdulla bin Khalid Al-Attiya, governor of the Qatar Central Bank, talks about Qatar’s financial future.Q The Qatar economy is seen to be booming; how do you see its prospects and the years ahead? A The economy has been growing strongly, reaching 8.8% growth in 2003 and a GDP total of Qr70.8bn ($19.5bn). Other factors have been positive, too, with the balance of payments surplus rising 34.2% to Qr10.9bn in 2003 and inflation, although rising, kept at 2.3% last year. Clearly the economy is influenced by developments in the oil and gas sectors, and the growth in gas revenues has and will be significant, with gas revenues expected to be higher than oil revenues by 2010.
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The economy is also expanding in other sectors, the stock market is escalating sharply along with real estate prices, and events such as the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 are creating new opportunities. From the regulatory perspective, we are also placing limitations on lending in some areas to dampen speculative activities; we are defining the boundaries.

Q Is Qatar’s growth a bubble?

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