Qatar's years of double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth may be over but the story behind the country's current, if slower, economic performance is no less impressive. While a self-imposed moratorium on gas developments in the giant North Field looks set to continue until at least 2015, the government has acted swiftly to stimulate the Gulf country's nascent non-hydrocarbon private sector to achieve sustainable growth.
In 2011, real GDP growth reached 13%, reflecting the trend over much of the previous decade, before falling to 6.2% in 2012. This downward shift signalled the end of major development programmes in the oil and gas sector, as well as the impact of the moratorium, hitting the country’s overall economic performance. Yet, this exercise in hydrocarbons self-discipline appears to have drastically improved Qatar’s longer term growth prospects. By 2015, the oil and gas sector is expected to constitute about 46% of total GDP, compared with about 60% at the start of the decade.
