The Minister of Finance stated that the non-oil, non-hydrocarbon sector grew by 6.7% this year, while the oil sector grew by 1.5%.

Qatar achieved a surplus of QAR 19 billion within its general budget during the first quarter of 2023, Finance Minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari revealed.

“We have recently published the fiscal numbers for our first quarter. We have accrued a surplus of QAR 19 billion, Al Kuwari told Bloomberg TV during the Qatar Economic Forum.

“These excess funds have been allocated towards settling public debt, bolstering the reserves of the Qatar Central Bank, and enhancing the asset strength of the Qatar Investment Authority,” he added.

The finance minister also highlighted notable growth within various sectors of the Qatari economy. The non-oil, non-hydrocarbon sector saw an expansion of 6.7 percent, whereas the oil sector experienced growth of 1.5 percent this year.

Al Kuwari further said that over the course of the past year, the Qatari economy as a whole grew by 4.8 percent on an annual basis, with the rate of GDP growth reaching an impressive 32 percent.

He shared that despite the World Bank’s predictions for this year indicating a lower growth rate of 3.3%, this is still a strong figure in light of the prevailing global economic conditions.

The non-oil sector has been instrumental in propelling the Qatari economy forward, and as a result, Al Kuwari mentioned that Qatar does not place substantial emphasis on the fluctuations in the global oil price.

Qatar’s merchandise trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, showed a surplus of QAR 22 billion in April 2023, a decrease of approximately QAR 12.2 billion or 35.6% from April 2022 and an increase of approximately QAR 0.7 billion or 3.5% from March 2023.

According to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), total goods exports (including exports of goods of domestic origin and re-exports) amounted to around QAR 30.7 billion, a decrease of 29.4% from April 2022 and 0.5% from March 2023.

Imports of goods, on the other hand, totaled around QAR 8.7 billion in April 2023, a 6.3% decrease from April 2022, and a 9.3% decrease from March 2023.