The Minister of Economy and Finance H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal and Abdulrahman Ahmad Al Shaibi, Director of Finance, Qatar Petroleum Group, at the Finance and Investment Qatar conference at Al Sharq Village and Spa in Doha yesterday. Salim Matramkot
DOHA: The Minister of Economy and Finance H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal has said the private sector is set to play an active role in implementation of the country’s upcoming mega projects.
The government is working on a programme that would ensure that the private sector is playing a bigger role in the huge projects in Qatar’s pipeline.
Qatar has lined up a series of multi-billion dollar projects, which would take off in the current year. The involvement of private companies in these projects would stimulate the country’s private sector, he said while opening a Finance and Investment Conference here yesterday.
Tenders for several key projects would be floated in the coming months and funds would be raised through various routes, including bonds and other instruments.
The minister said the government’s decision to bring in different regulatory bodies in the financial sector under one umbrella has helped strengthen the financial institutions and banks.
“Now we hope all Qatari banks would be able to meet the Basel III demands much ahead of the original deadline,” the minister said.
After shifting the growth focus from hydrocarbon to non-hydrocarbon, Qatar is working on a number of programmes aimed at sustaining its growth trajectory.
“We expect the country’s growth rate would continue to stay at a rate ranging between 5 and 7 percent in the coming years. The country’s non-oil hydrocarbon sector recorded an impressive 6.9 percent growth in 2012. Development of infrastructure would act as a great stimulant to the country’s growth prospects,” he said.
“The growth drivers of Qatari economy were mainly the hydrocarbon exports.
“Now we need to foresee the changing global economic conditions. The huge quantity of Shale production by the US may be a game changer. The US shale production has reached to 7.5 million barrels,” he noted.
Despite global slowdown the GCC economy continues to perform well. While the developed economies like the US recorded just 1.5 growth rate, the regional economy has a growth of 3.5 percent.
The conference, dedicated to registered/specially invited attendees, discussed a wide range of topics, including “financing Qatar’s development in the international financial markets, investment opportunities within Qatar from global perspectives, how do international investors perceive Qatar and the key sector where they see opportunities”.
Experts also analysed the country’s real estate market and compared it to the rest of the GCC.
“Who is investing into Qatari real estate and what are their priorities, the investors concerns; Are banks, financial institutions and private equity houses investing into real estate?” were among other issues discussed at the conference.
The Peninsula
