Doha: Qatar’s manufacturing sector will emerge as a major employment generator in the country in the next few years, driven by efforts of the government to diversify the economy and boost Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The number of people employed in the sector is expected to grow to 101,000 in 2025, according to a recent report by KPMG.
“The government’s effort to boost SME sector manufacturing and the shifting focus towards non-hydrocarbon sector exports is expected to drive the production value for manufacturing sector by 30 percent from 2019 to 2025,” said a report titled ‘Qatar Industrial Landscape 2.0: Resilient and Stronger’ by KPMG. “The number of people employed is also expected to grow from 85,000 to 101,000 in 2025 along with rise in number of establishments by 1.2 percent CAGR to 3,486 from 3,239 during the same period,” it added.
The government has developed Qatar National Manufacturing Strategy 2018-2022 that aims at accelerating growth in the manufacturing sector as an engine for economic development and diversification.
In line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and second National Development Strategy (NDS-2), a comprehensive manufacturing strategy was launched to create conditions to enable a vibrant manufacturing sector, remove artificial constraints and create a unique investment proposition for its manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing sector strategy is based on nine enablers that would help redefine the manufacturing landscape in Qatar.
Further, it has identified seven manufacturing strategic sub-sectors such as polymers, plastics, aluminium, additive manufacturing, food & beverage, pharmaceutical and extreme environment services.
The share of the manufacturing sector is also expected to increase in Qatar’s economy. As per World Economic Outlook October 2020 forecast, Qatar’s nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to reach QR697bn in 2025.
“After contracting by 16 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic which reduced production and consumption, the economy is expected to rebound and post 5.2 percent year-on-year growth in 2021. The share of the manufacturing sector is expected to rise from 7.8 percent in 2019 to 9.4 percent in 2025,” noted the KPMG report.
The growing demand for natural gas product is expected to drive the mining and quarrying sector growth.
“The production value for mining and quarrying sector is expected to increase steadily from 2019 to 2025 at a CAGR of 6 percent driven by the government’s plan to increase the production capacity for natural gas production by 2024. This is likely to drive employment to 40,000 in 2025,” it added.
