Doha: The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Thursday that the State of Qatar's budget for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024 achieved a surplus of QAR 0.9 billion.
MOF posted on X platform saying that the surplus will be directed to reducing public debt and thus there is no cash surplus.
The revealed that total revenues in Q4 amounted to about QAR 48.7 billion, a 12.5% decrease, compared to the same quarter of 2023, noting that these revenues were generated from oil and gas sector (QAR 42.09 billion), and non-oil sector (QAR 6.59 billion).
It indicated that total expenditures in Q4 amounted to about QAR 47.8 billion, a 12% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
These expenditures were distributed as follows: QAR 17.69 billion for salaries and wages, QAR 18.49 billion for current expenditures, while secondary capital expenditures amounted to QAR 1.32 billion , and major capital expenditures amounted to QAR 10.24 billion.
The Ministry's data showed that the actual average price of oil during the mentioned quarter amounted to USD 73.9 per barrel, which is higher than the estimated price in Qatar's 2024 budget, which is 60 dollars per barrel.
The ministry also revealed that tenders and auctions in government agencies during the Q4 of 2024 reached a total of QAR 6.4 billion, of which QAR 4.8 billion were awarded to local companies, and QAR 1.5 billion to foreign companies, while the total number of the awarded tenders, practices and direct agreements reached 900 jobs.
The top four sectors according to the sectoral index Q4 were Municipality and Environment; Health; Energy; and General Secretariat.
Compared to the same quarter of 2023, the ministry's data showed a 1 percent decrease in the number of businesses, a 25.58 percent decrease in businesses value, a 36.84 percent decrease in value of contracts with local companies, and a 50 percent increase in value of contracts with foreign companies.
On December 12, Minister of Finance HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari revealed some important indicators for the Qatari economy during 2024, saying that the country's GDP achieved a 1.7 percent growth during 2024, where non-hydrocarbon output grew by 1.9 percent, while hydrocarbon output grew by 1.4 percent.
