 |
 |
|
 |
||
Choose your language |
Before oil discovery, the economy of the state of Qatar was mainly based on pearl diving and fishing. But with the commercialization of the Japanese pearl on the international market in the ‘20s and the’30s, the Qatari pearl industry became weaker.
Thus, discovering the oil resources meant a great change from the economical point of view.
In the present times, the state of Qatar is a country with a very high standard of living and its citizens are offered a great deal of facilities by their government, including electricity, water and medical assistance free of charge. As for the basis of its economy and the main source for the national income, this is represented by the oil and natural gas resources and by tourism.
The economy of the state of Qatar has become one of the fastest developing world economies, with one of the highest individual income.
And more than that, the fact that there are no taxes on this income situates Qatar on the second place among the countries with the lowest taxes in the world.
Qatar is a country which produces and exports oil and gas, experiencing at the same time the revival of the private sector and great achievements in the field of science.
The Emir intends to reduce his country dependence on the energy sector, even if gas remains its main resources. For example The Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) is expanding to become one of the world’s leading ethylene, sulphur and low density polyethylene producer.
The Qatar Fertilizer Company (QAFCO) – was founded in 1969 as joint venture between the State of Qatar, Norsk Hydro Norway, Davy Powergas and Hambros Bank, to produce ammonia and urea by utilizing Qatar’s abundant gas resources. The company is now owned by Industries Qatar (IQ) as 75% shareholders and Yara International holding the remaining 25%.
Qatar Program on the protection of the ecosystem in Qatar was set up to preserve the Hawksbill turtles and has ensured that the investors building out at sea respect and protect the ecosystem and the sea beds.
So far, Q-Tel had had the telecommunication monopoly. This sector is also blooming since the Consortium formed by Vodafone Group PLC and Qatar Foundation was awarded a mobile phone license. Also, Q-Tel has already entered foreign markets by opening subsidiaries (Nawras in Oman) or by buying shares in mobile companies like AMH in Singapore or the American giant NT&T, Hindujas in India and Altimo in Russia.
The Qatalum Project to build an aluminum factory is operational starting 2010 and it will be one of the largest aluminum plant ever launched. Qatalum, a joint venture by Qatar Petroleum and Hydro, will have a capacity in the first phase of 585,000 tones of primary aluminum, all to be shipped as value added aluminum casthouse products.
Qatar Science & Technology Park was set up in Doha to develop edge technologies. Total, EADS, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Shell and Rolls Royce have already agreed to participate and set up a Research and Development center in the Park.
One of the main goals of the state of Qatar on the economical and the social level is playing an important role in the region, as well as in the entire world and becoming an example to be followed.
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES
The state of Qatar managed to encourage the investments in different fields, to create the proper environment for the investors and to assure the development of the private sector, trying to update it and to keep the pace with the evolution of the world economies as well as with the international laws in the field of commerce.
Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established in 1963 and aims to organize, represent and defend the commercial, industrial and agricultural interests; to work to promote them; to support and develop the economy and productivity authorities for the good of the country in general and the benefits of its members in particular.
Supporting and developing the private sector, as well as consolidating its relation with the foreign world, are among the objectives and policies of its Board of Directors.
http://www.qatarchamber.com
Tel: +974 445 59 111
Fax: +974 446 61 728
+974 446 61 693
Email: info@qcci.org
qcci@qatar.net.qaThe Qatari Businessmen Association founded in 2002, under Ministerial Decree No. 14, by His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization of business people working together to improve Qatar’s economic and civic vitality with local and international partners.
http://www.qataribusinessmen.org
Tel: +974 443 53 120
Fax: +974 443 53 834
Email: qba@qataribusinessmen.org
The Qatar Financial Center has been set up to attract investors, financial institution and multinationals wishing to open up branches in Qatar. They are exempt of tax for a period of three years, hold 100% of the capital and can repatriate the totality of the profits. These advantages added to Qatar’s great political stability and the transparency of its finances has already attracted several banks: Citibank, Deutsche
Bank, Goldman Sachs International…The Qatar Financial Center should also promote the insurance sector.
The banking sector with its sixteen local banks is very strong. The major local banks are the Qatar National Bank (43% of Qatari assets), Commercial Bank, Doha Bank and three Islamic banks: Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), Qatar Islamic Bank and Masraf Al Rayan. They support the investment policy of the Emir and ensure through the Central Bank, a safe and transparent environment.
Qatar Exchange (QE) was created in June 2009 and is the successor of Doha Securities Market. QE is an international exchange offering liquidity and a diverse product range, operating according to international best practices. The banks are also involved in the major property developments projects.
There are many projects, sometimes on an unimaginable scale.
There is The Pearl-Qatar, the fabulous UDC project or the new city Lusail designed by the Qatari Diar, to welcome in time 200 000 inhabitants. It will be the largest developments in the region covering a surface of 35 square km. Its combination of traditional and modern architecture will be one of Qatar’s new landmarks. It should be completed by 2016.
www.thepearlqatar.com
www.qataridiar.com
www.lusail.comQatar wants to develop Doha into a key regional aviation hub with the New Doha International Airport (NDIA). It is scheduled to handle 50 mil passengers a year and 3 mil tones of cargo annually once fully completed beyond 2015, and it is among the first airports in the world to be built to accommodate the double deck Airbus A380-800.
Of course, Qatar wants to build highways, roads, ports, power station to match its ambitions. The causeway between Qatar and Bahrain should be completed by 2013. It will be the longest bridge in the world (40 km). It has become the symbol of the good relations between Qatar and Bahrain. This bridge is also at the origin of the project for a 200 miles causeway between Doha and Abu Dhabi.
There is also talk of a fast railway between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar and between Abu Dhabi and Oman and a project for a subway serving Doha and the main cities.
Ambitious developments and huge infrastructure in answer to the country’s needs, fantastic projects and a growing presence on the leading international market place…
OIL AND GAS
The State of Qatar continues to implement the plans aiming to increase oil reserves and oil output capacity by developing onshore and offshore oil fields.
In 1973 the government set up the QGPC (Qatar General Petroleum Company), the most important institution in Qatar.
The continuous efforts of the government in order to develop the gas sector, which reserves are estimated at about 380 thousand billion cubic feet, lead to the fact that the State of Qatar is number three in the world, in terms of reserves, after Russia and Iran.
Qatar Petroleum has built two natural gas exploitation and liquefaction companies, Qatar Gas and RasGas, in partnership with Total, ExxonMobil, Mitsui, Itochu and Marubeni.
Qatar plans to be among the largest exporters of gas in the world and made efforts to market the products of the gas sector, and this resulted in the conclusion of long-term contracts regarding the export of large quantities of those products. It supplies its neighbors with gas thanks to the Dolphin Project. Once the gas is processed in Ras Lafan, it is piped under the sea to the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai) and Oman. There are also agreements signed to export gas to Japan and Korea, India, Taiwan, Portugal and Canada.
Qatar is leading the development of the LNG industry and in 2006 became the world’s largest supplier of LNG.
Demand for Qatari gas is high – at home and abroad – and initial findings from a feasibility study to determine if the country could use nuclear power to help it meet soaring energy demand was expected by the end of 2010. A decision on whether to pursue atomic energy may follow in 2011.
At the 8th international petroleum energy summit, Qatar declared that by investing 70 billion dollars in the next five years, the oil production would increase to a million barrels a day and gas production to an equivalent of 4 million barrels a day.
With the completion of two 7.8mn tpy production “Supertrains” at Qatargas, Qatar will have an installed LNG capacity of 77mn tones per year.
Major industries in Qatar: