(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
QNA
Doha: Qatar's Economy has achieved significant multi-sector milestones steered by the Qatar National Vision 2030, with the Gulf state remarkably transforming from a predominantly hydrocarbon-based economy into a diversified and knowledge-based one.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s outlook for Qatar says the country would see a two- percent 2024-25 real GDP growth, driven by "public investment, spillovers from the ongoing LNG expansion project, and strong tourism".
The final statement for the IMF's Article IV consultation mission in Qatar projected a medium-term annual growth of about 4.75 percent, supported by the significant North Field expansion project, totaling the countrys annual LNG production to 142 million tons per annum (mtpa) and the Third National Development Strategy (NDS-3).
This growth is manifested across all Qatar's dynamic economic sectors, especially in energy, with the latter achieving oil, gas and petrochemical milestones both locally and abroad. QatarEnergy plays a leading role in optimally investing the countrys natural resources of oil and gas, in accordance with the QNV 2030.
Besides the North Field LNG expansion project, the energy giant is also in partnership with ExxonMobil for the Golden Pass LNG export terminal on the US Gulf Coast near Sabine Pass, Texas, with annual capacity of 18 mtpa.
In September 2024, QatarEnergy held a naming ceremony for six LNG carriers as part of Doha's 128-vessel shipbuilding program.
In February 2024, HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani laid the foundations for the Ras Laffan petrochemicals complex, a huge venture consisting of the Middle East's largest ethane cracker and one of the largest worldwide with a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes a year of ethylene.
Turning to clean energy, under the patronage of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, HH the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Thani recently laid the groundbreaking for the Blue Ammonia Plant project. The world's largest of its kind, the project in Mesaieed is a significant QatarEnergy milestone to produce low-carbon ammonia, a key solution in the clean energy transition.
The plant will be supplied with more than 35 MW of electricity from the solar power plant currently under construction in Mesaieed Industrial City.
World-class solar projects in Al Kharsaah, Ras Laffan, Mesaieed and Dukhan will double the country's solar power generation capacity to around 4,000 MW by 2030.
Meanwhile, QatarEnergy, supported by the directives of the country's wise leadership, is expanding its exploration and drilling operations in a bid to achieve further growth.
Qatar Energy is working to achieve the NDS-3 objectives with a keen eye for sustainability issues.
Qatar Energy pays great attention to enhancing the country's LNG production capacity as the key tributary to the GDP in addition to petrochemical industries. In this regard, it has built partnerships with many international companies, one of the most important returns of which was the transfer of knowledge to a new generation of Qatari youth.
Under the generous directives of HH the Amir, QatarEnergy has charted out a new path that will put it on the road to becoming one of the best energy companies in the world.
It has adopted an updated business strategy based on its recent progress, taking into account supply and demand, potential risks and opportunities, and global trends, especially with regard to efforts to low-carbon energy transition.
In this context, it has worked to pay attention to sustainability issues, as QatarEnergy launched its updated sustainability strategy that emphasizes its commitment, as a major energy producer, to responsible production of clean energy at affordable prices to facilitate the transition to low-carbon energy.
QatarEnergy has also been guided in implementing its work and projects by the basic principles and pillars on which the QNV 2030 was built, enhancing its role in supporting and enriching the national economy, supported by its leading position among the largest LNG producing and exporting countries.
Through its corporate strategy and values, it has also worked to maximize the value of Qatars assets, create a wide-ranging international portfolio, maximize the added value of petrochemical industries, support energy efficiency, and achieve the optimal energy mix in Qatar.
QatarEnergy has also paid great attention to supporting and developing human capital, especially Qatari employees in various energy sector companies, and has supported efforts to develop its employees expertise and raise levels of leadership development to achieve the highest levels of performance.
It has also established a unique work culture through corporate values that form part of the daily lives of all its employees, built on solid foundations of integrity, safety, excellence, cooperation, responsibility, and respect.
The number of new companies registered on the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) platform in 2024 exceeded 760 up from 327 in 2023, a more than 130 percent increase bringing the total number to over 2,200 companies.
The businesses mostly from the UK, France, Jordan, India, the US are operating in various sectors such as consulting services, financial technology, information technology, innovation and others.
IT companies made the largest number on the QFC platform benefitting from the QFC's active involvement in the Doha-hosted Web Summit 2024 in February.
The companies that registered during the summit were offered exceptional incentives as part of a QFC strategy alluring foreign investments, diversifying the national economy, and supporting the states efforts to become a regional IT hub.
In 2024, the QFC signed more than 15 MoUs with prestigious local and international institutions, including Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Masraf Al Rayan, Meeza, Hashgraph Association, Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, the Financial Services Development Council of Hong Kong, the Canadian Arab Business Council, and Casablanca Finance City.
With the aim of facilitating the establishment of businesses in Qatar, the QFC signed an MoU with the Qatar Media City, and a cooperation agreement with the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
The QFC organized a number of important events, primarily the Qatar Financial Market Forum 2024 in collaboration with Bloomberg under the title "Trends Shaping Emerging Markets & Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility".
The QFC also hosted the 20th Corporate Registers Forum Annual Conference 2024, held for the first time in the State of Qatar, with the attendance of prominent figures representing more than 50 member countries of the Forum, partner organizations, a number of business leaders and industry experts and specialists.
The QFC also held events dedicated to wealth management to discuss opportunities and challenges in this field, with a special focus on family businesses in Qatar.
In a qualitative step to enhance the financial system in Qatar, the QFC issued the QFC Digital Assets Framework - a comprehensive and innovative framework for the creation, regulation and trading of digital assets.
The framework aims to provide a safe and transparent system for digital assets, in line with the best international standards and practices.
The Digital Assets Lab launched its first operations this year, and currently includes 29 participants working to innovate, develop, test and market digital solutions and services, using the support services provided by the lab.
Joining the data privacy protection global leaders, the QFCs Data Protection Office obtained full membership in the Global Privacy Assembly. This achievement reflects the QFCs commitment to applying the highest international data privacy protection standards.
The QFC also won three prestigious awards in recognition of its continuous efforts to promote financial service innovation and its social responsibility initiatives.
Regarding the Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZ)'s key achievements during the past year, they included signing agreements and concluding strategic partnerships. Its partnerships with the Ministry of Transport resulted in three strategic agreements.
The QFZ raised the level of cooperation with Mwani Qatar to coordinate commercial operations and provide support to investors.
It signed an agreement with QTerminals Group to manage and operate operations at Al Marsa Port. Another agreement was signed with Milaha Company to establish a new navigation basin extending over an area of 22,000 square meters dedicated to yachts and ships at Al Marsa Port located in the Umm Alhoul Free Zone, with initial QR 80 million investments.
The QFZ also discussed ways of cooperation and coordination with many major international companies, where it concluded partnerships, primarily signing a landmark agreement with Chinese investment leader Luyi Holding Group to develop a world-class industrial park in Qatar, diversify the national economy and localize industries. Another agreement was signed with FedEx Logistics to establish a regional logistics facility in Qatar's free zones.
In order to facilitate the establishment of an advanced service center within the Ras Bufontas Free Zone, the QFZ signed an agreement with the German company Siemens Energy, to serve as a regional center for Siemens and other original equipment manufacturers in the energy sector in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
It also signed an MoU with the German company Evonik with the aim of establishing a factory for the company in the Umm Al Houl Free Zone, serving the oil, gas and manufacturing sectors in the GCC and the Middle East.
The QFZ also paid special attention in 2024 to emerging technology sectors, as it continued its strategic partnerships with Google Cloud to launch the first cloud region of its kind in the GCC and North Africa.
It also recently launched the Google Cloud Center of Excellence in the Business and Innovation Park at the Ras Bufontas Free Zone, which enhances digital transformation and capacity building efforts to make Qatar a leading regional center for advanced technology.
The Center of Excellence is planned to train 2,000 people annually on Google Cloud technologies.
The QFZ referred to the partnership with Google Cloud, which resulted in the signing of an MoU with Palo Alto Networks to enhance the multi-cloud computing strategy, on the sidelines of the Google Cloud Summit, held in Doha. Another agreement was also signed with Quantify, a strategic partner of Google Cloud, to establish the first global center for artificial intelligence technology in the field of digital engineering in the countrys free zones, which is a major step in driving innovation and accelerating digital transformation initiatives locally and regionally.
In 2024, the QFZ supported sustainability issues in all sectors, as it was able, in cooperation with ABB E-mobility, a company specializing in electric vehicle charging solutions, and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), to officially open the new ABB E-mobility facility in Umm Alhoul Free Zone, to be the companys only facility in the Middle East and Africa, and the central starting point for providing its services in the entire region.
The QFZ pointed out the expansion of its investment portfolio in 2024, to currently include more than 600 licensed companies from all sectors and fields, with more than 160 companies joining during this year.
The QFZ's efforts to support government work in various sectors, as its primary role revolves around enhancing the position of the State of Qatar as a global center for logistics services, by continuing to build on the strategic location factor enjoyed by the free zones in Qatar, and supporting them with smart infrastructure, high-speed internet, and efficient and experienced cadres, in addition to intensifying coordination with the relevant authorities in the country to simplify customs clearance procedures, to encourage the largest shipping and logistics companies in the world to open regional centers affiliated with them in Qatar.
Turning to the Qatar Chamber's achievements, the total number of transactions (electronic and non-electronic) carried out by the QC's Member Affairs Department until November 2024 amounted to about 136,826 transactions.
The QC also issued 78,922 electronic certificates of origin, 1,514 non-electronic certificates of origin, in addition to 47,390 authentication transactions, seven cards from the ATA carnet, and 10 cards from the TIR carnet, while the number of new members during 11 months of 2024 amounted to about 1,317 new members.
The QC continued to enhance cooperation with the relevant authorities in the country to discuss the issues and challenges facing the private sector, and work to find appropriate solutions for them. In this context, the QC hosted a number of open dialogues with some of the countrys officials, including the Qatar Tourism Chairman and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Chairman.
The QC also held a joint meeting with the Ministry of Labor to discuss the private sectors views regarding the mandatory health insurance system for non-Qataris.
The Chambers Education Committee also discussed the repercussions of the Ministry of Education and Higher Educations decision to close private schools operating from residential buildings or buildings not designated for schools.
On a different note, the State of Qatar's trade balance recorded a surplus of 17.7 billion Qatari riyals in September 2024.
According to the National Planning Council, the total value of Qatar's exports reached approximately 27.6 billion riyals in September 2024. On the other hand, the value of imports rose to approximately 9.9 billion riyals.
In terms of exports by destinations, China came first as the top destination for Qatar's exports in September 2024, with approximately 5.6 billion riyals worth of exports, accounting for 20.3 percent of the total value of Qatar's exports.
South Korea was second with approximately 3 billion riyals of exports, which represents 10.8 percent of total export value. India was third with approximately 2.9 billion riyals, accounting for 10.4%. of total export value.
Data from the Qatar Chamber also revealed an increase in private sector exports by 3.5 percent during the second quarter of 2024, reaching around 2.62 billion riyals, according to certificates of origin issued by the Chamber. In comparison, exports reached 2.53 billion riyals during the first quarter of 2024.
In its quarterly report, the Chamber pointed out that the value of exports through the general model certificate and the unified Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) model certificate increased, while the value of the unified Arab region model certificate decreased when compared to the previous quarter (Q1 2024).
The value of the general model certificate rose by 2.2 percent, from 2 billion riyals to 2.04 billion riyals. The value of the unified GCC model certificate increased by 15.3 percent, from 438 million riyals to 505 million riyals, while the value of the unified Arab region model certificate declined by 24 percent, from 92.9 million riyals to 70.6 million riyals.
Asia, excluding GCC countries and Arab nations, topped the list of major destinations for Qatar's private sector exports according to the certificates of origin issued by the Chamber during the second quarter of 2024. Countries in this group received exports valued at around 1.2 billion riyals, accounting for 45.6 percent of total exports.
The GCC countries came second, receiving 23.9 percent of the total exports, valued at approximately 625.62 million riyals.
In third place was the European Union, which received exports valued at approximately 543.43 million riyals, accounting for 20.7 percent of total exports.
Fourth place went to the Arab region group (excluding GCC countries), with exports valued at 145.96 million riyals, representing 5.6 percent of total exports.
Other European countries were in fifth place, importing products valued at around 76.82 million riyals, which accounts for 2.9 percent of total exports.
Next, African countries (excluding North African countries) ranked sixth, receiving exports worth 21.06 million riyals, which represents 0.8 percent. The United States ranked seventh, receiving exports valued at approximately 6.75 million riyals, which accounts for 0.3 percent of total exports.
In eighth place were the rest of the Americas, with 0.2 percent, receiving exports worth around 5.43 million riyals. Finally, Oceania ranked ninth with 0.06 percent, receiving exports valued at approximately 1.53 million riyals.
The number of countries that imported from Qatar's private sector during the second quarter of 2024 increased to 105 countries, compared to 101 countries in the previous quarter.
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