DOHA: Qatar’s fiscal surplus for the first two quarters of 2012/13 financial year has surged to QR118bn. The surplus is QR64bn higher than the surplus posted for the full fiscal year of the financial year 2011/12 at QR54bn.
The Qatar General Secretariat for Development Planning’s (GSDP) latest economic outlook noted that the government expenditure stood at QR70.3bn in September 2012. Of the total expenditure, current expenditure accounted for about 75 percent of the total.
After two quarters (April-June and July-September) in 2012/13 financial year, total realised fiscal spending was about 39 percent of the budget amount.
Qatar’s total revenue for the first half of 2012/13 amounted to QR188bn. The composition of revenue shows strong advances in the contributions made by investment income and by other sources, including corporate taxes.
The planning and development body noted that Qatar posted a robust trade surplus in the first half of 2012, of about QR140bn or equivalent to 40.1 percent of GDP. A surge in import demand narrowed it from the first half of 2011. Merchandise exports grew by 2.1 percent year-on-year, but were outpaced by merchandise imports, which soared by 37.1 percent.
According GSDP document, Capital goods-machinery and transport equipment were the single biggest contributor to import growth in the first half, soaring by 36 percent and accounting for 16.5 percent points of the total import increase.
The first-half trade surplus once again supported a hefty current account surplus. Deficits on the income and services accounts and large outward remittances amounted to 19.7 percent of the nominal GDP, leaving an overall current account surplus of 20.4 percent. As of 30 September 2012, Qatar’s gross foreign reserves stood at QR135.9bn.
On the money supply and credit, the document said Qatar’s board money supply (M2) through to September 2012 grew by 18.5 percent relative to the same month in 2011. In 2012, commercial bank credit to the private sector has climbed at a steady double-digit pace. Credit to industry and services, has grown rapidly in the second part of the year.
Bank credit to the public sector has shown vigorous growth in 2012, picking up on the momentum that started in the second part of 2011. Credit to government institutions, which are fully state-owned enterprises, is on the rise, accounting for 70 percent of total credit to the public sector by October. More than half of total public sector credit is linked to service-related projects. Construction-related loans account for about 19 percent of the total.
The Peninsula
