Minister of Commerce and Industry and Acting Minister of Finance, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari said yesterday that Qatar has generated a surplus of QR200m in the first quarter of this year, helped by rise in oil prices, controlled expenditure, and improved revenues. 

“We had an excellent quarter, first quarter, oil prices moved in the right direction. We had an average year-to-date of $64 a barrel - this resulted in a surplus of QR0.2bn for the first quarter and this is mix of controlled expenditure and improved revenue. Looking to the remainder of this year, if this situation continues we should be in a good position,” said the Minister in a session during the second day of Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.

“The only time we might need financing is just to improve our financial position” like refinancing outstanding debts more cheaply, said the Minister. About the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT), Qatar has not picked a date to impose the levy.

“We are looking at it (VAT) but we don’t have a date as of yet but this is normal, many countries do reforms, it is very important for us to diversify the revenues not to be sole dependent on oil and gas. So we have to one of the streams we are going to looking at is VAT and enhance the tax regime in the country.”

Replying to a question about labour reforms, the Minister said that there is no chance of going backwards on the reforms. “There is no change in this position. The government is very decisive when it comes to labour market reforms. All the reforms announced are going as planned,” he said. “When it comes to non objection certificate, the kafala system, exit visa all these reforms Qatar has announced it and committed to it."“We believe the LNG is clean energy and is going to be medium-term energy tool for the world so investing in that seems to be very convenient.”

The Minister affirmed the keenness of Qatar’s wise leadership, represented by Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to confront corruption in all its forms and types, and to ensure the highest level of transparency, governance and compliance.

“H H the Amir had made it very clear that the country will run in the highest standard of transparency, governance and compliance and Qatari institutions enjoy high-level transparency, governance and compliance and we don’t see any issue with this one and because all orgnisations are run to the best standards.”

Regarding reforms, H E the Minister referred to Qatar’s efforts in regulating the labor market, as well as the law regulating the investment of non-Qatari capital in economic activity, which allows foreign ownership of up to 100 percent of the joint capital, pointing out that the State also issued a law allowing foreign investors to own real estate, and other reforms in this field. On attracting talent within the context of economic diversification efforts, the Minister explained that Qatar has focused in the past years on developing infrastructure and construction, which has attracted a lot of manpower, indicating that economic diversification is based on qualified and skilled labor in well-known sectors. The Minister added that once the FIFA 2022 World Cup ends, there will be many projects that serve economic diversification in the field of manufacturing, technology, innovation, food and other sectors, and this is an attractive factor for skilled labor, where many reforms were undertaken to ensure that.

He affirmed that the Qatari environment is attractive to workers, as it has the best infrastructure and legislative systems, and enjoys a strong economy and excellent services. 

He added that the State of Qatar has taken many steps to achieve these goals, including establishing the Investment Promotion Agency of Qatar (IPA Qatar), reforming the public procurement framework, enacting a new law to stimulate foreign investment, and amending the system of free zones, noting that IPA Qatar aims to strengthen the government’s efforts in encouraging foreign investment in the State of Qatar.He added that the agency seeks to focus on the tourism sector, advanced industries, infrastructure, and the development of agriculture and technology, noting that it has signed many memoranda of understanding with other investment promotion agencies.

On attracting talent within the context of economic diversification efforts, the Minister explained that Qatar has focused in the past years on developing infrastructure and construction, which has attracted a lot of manpower, indicating that economic diversification is based on qualified and skilled labor in well-known sectors.

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