Qatar's Budget For 2025 Prioritises Spending On Vital Sectors

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Deepak John | The Peninsula

Doha, Qatar: Minister of Finance H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari presented Qatar's general budget for the fiscal year 2025 during a press conference, today, December 15, 2024.

Minister of Finance highlighted allocation of budget for different sectors, economic and sustainability targets, expectations for economic growth and activities in the upcoming years. He elaborated regarding the inflation rate, oil and gas prices expected in the budget and policies of working with the deficit and surplus; revenues and expenditures and different chapters in the budget; the plan of government contracts, public debts and credit ratings.

The allocations for health and education sectors stand at QR41.4bn, accounting for 20 percent of the budget. This underscores Qatar's commitment to enhancing human capital development and improving public service quality.

The strategic sectors such as trade and industry, research and innovation, tourism, digital transformation, and information technology have been allocated significant resources to support economic diversification and sustainable development efforts.

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“The Third National Development Strategy (NDS-3) focuses on four main sectors that will drive the economic growth and help in diversification in industry, tourism, logistics and transportation, technology and AI sectors,” Minister Al Kuwari said.

Replying to a query by The Peninsula about the reason for the increase in Section Two expenses (current expenditures) from QR71.8bn in 2024 to QR76.3bn in 2025, Minister Al Kuwari said,“This increase is related to Third National Development Strategy and part of this strategy is in the operational side and another on the capital side. All these initiatives in NDS-3 are for investments in the economy and future.”

“We had to allocate the needed expenditures and we believe it is also an investment in the future and the economy,” he added.

On the expenditure side, Minister Al Kuwari highlighted that total expenditures are projected at QR210.2bn, a 4.6 percent increase compared to 2024. He added that the expected budget deficit of QR13.2bn will be financed through local and external debt instruments, as required.

“We have an increase in salaries and wages amounting to 10 percent and I this is the biggest increase since years and the reason for the increase is based on the National Development Strategy. One of the initiatives of the NDS-3 is attract more competencies and also to motivate and boost the national workforce. This is also linked to the human capital law which aims to increase the performance of employees in the government and attract talents and to maintain talents in the country but also to create new jobs and support the private sector. Therefore, we have increased salaries and wages.”

He added,“We consider it not just an increase but investing in the citizens and the human capital.”

Revealing the details of the general budget for 2025, Minister Al Kuwari noted that Qatar's total expected revenues for the 2025 fiscal year budget are estimated at QR197bn, reflecting a 2.5 percent decrease compared to the 2024 budget revenues.

The Minister emphasised that Qatar continues to adopt a conservative approach in estimating oil and gas revenues, with an average oil price of $60 per barrel. This approach aims to enhance financial flexibility and ensure spending stability.

Minister Al Kuwari said, the financial framework anticipates the spending and focuses on the revenues based on many scenarios. Part of this financial framework considers any surplus which is used to settle down debt and also support Qatar Central Bank needs and also increase capital of Qatar investment fund. This surplus also creates another fund within the Ministry of Finance to deal with the shocks.

He stated,“The anticipated oil and gas revenues for 2025 are QR154bn, down from QR159bn in the 2024 budget, marking a 3.1 percent decrease.”

He noted that non-oil revenues for 2025 are estimated at QR43bn, remaining unchanged from 2024 levels.

Minister Al Kuwari said there is a small decrease when it comes to the hydrocarbon revenues as QatarEnergy is working on expanding in order to produce more LNG and we expect them to increase LNG production by 85 percent and in order to increase this production“you need to spend more on those projects. So this is some of the Capex related expenses”

The Qatari economy stands today as one of the most robust within the region and the country gives considerable attention to national economic diversification. The country recognises the importance of balancing its economic policies, which aim to create a diversified national economy while strengthening its natural resources.

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