Editing Economy of Qatar (section)

==Financial sector==
{{More citations needed|section|date=September 2021}}
The Qatari banking sector managed to escape the direct impact of the global subprime fallout, but was not altogether unscathed by its aftershocks. Overall, it was the best performing of the Gulf Cooperation Council markets in the last quarter of 2008 and most banks posted substantial profits for 2008. But the sector is also facing issues of liquidity, declining customer confidence and a forced reluctance to lend. In a bid to strengthen the banks’ positions, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) announced in early 2009 that it was willing to take a 10-20% stake in any interested local listed banks by way of a capital injection, although this was later reduced to 5% stakes and an additional 5% at the end of 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Doing Business in Qatar" |url=https://www.ecovis.com/qatar/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/doing-business-qatar.pdf}}</ref>

The Qatari government also announced in March 2009 that it was planning to buy the investment portfolio of the banks in the hope this would encourage them to continue lending. Cautious sector sentiment has also been compounded by the Qatar Central Bank's (QCB's) lending restrictions, which demand a loan-to-deposit ratio of 90%. Given the high level of integration between Qatar's economy and the Persian Gulf region, as well as the wider world, a slowdown in business and banking activity seemed inevitable. Nevertheless, Qatar's banking sector has been faring relatively well, considering the strife experienced in other countries, and insiders are confident that activity will return to its previous brisk pace in the second half of 2009 as confidence slowly rebuilds around the globe.

The [[International Monetary Fund]] in its spring assessment 2019 said that Qatar has "successfully absorbed the shocks" of the blockade imposed in 2017 and the dropped oil prices from 2014 to 2016. [[S&P Global]] had marked Qatar's outlook to negative in 2017, but changed it to stable in 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/how-qatars-cows-show-the-growing-resistance-to-a-saudi-led-boycott/2019/07/19/78880256-a4b2-11e9-a767-d7ab84aef3e9_story.html?noredirect=on|title=How Qatar's cows show the growing resistance to a Saudi-led boycott|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=21 July 2019}}</ref>

In August 2019, [[Qatar Central Bank]] stated that the country's economic growth will see a boost over the next two years amid expectations of stable oil prices and continued strong exports. The GDP is expected to grow at an average rate of 2.8% between 2018 and 2020, with the budget surplus falling to 4.35 billion riyals in 2019, from a surplus of 15.1 billion riyals in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N25B1OF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815103132/https://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL8N25B1OF|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 15, 2019|title=Qatar says economic growth to accelerate in 2019-2020|work=Reuters|access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref>

Qatar's GDP is anticipated to scale up to $208 billion in 2024 from $162 billion in 2022, according to a report by FocusEconomics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=John |first=Pratap |date=2020-10-10 |title=Qatar GDP may scale up to $208bn in 2024: FocusEconomics |url=https://www.gulf-times.com/story/674999/qatar-gdp-may-scale-up-to-208bn-in-2024-focuseconomics |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=Gulf Times |language=en}}</ref> The World Bank has projected Qatar's economy to be the fastest growing in the GCC in 2023 and 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Newspaper |first=The Peninsula |date=2022-06-12 |title=Qatar's economy to be fastest growing in GCC in 2023, 2024 |url=https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/12/06/2022/qatars-economy-to-be-fastest-growing-in-gcc-in-2023-2024 |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=thepeninsulaqatar.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Islamic finance===
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The [[Islamic banking and finance|Islamic finance]] sector enjoyed increased activity in 2008 and is expected to continue to grow into 2009 as more sophisticated financial instruments spark the interest of investors. In addition to Islamic banks, such as Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) and newcomer Masraf Al Rayyan, conventional banks have also been entering the sharia-compliant sector and are coming to view an Islamic subsidiary as a virtual necessity in order to maintain market standing. Islamic banks currently take the lion's share of sharia-compliant business, though the conventional banks are working hard to take a greater share of market activity. Both Islamic banks and Islamic subsidiaries did remarkably well in the first three quarters of 2008, during which overall financing activity increased by 70.6% compared to the same period in the previous year. The global financial crisis slowed this growth though. Poor market conditions have contributed to a marked slowdown of Islamic bond, or sukuk, activity in 2008 throughout the Persian Gulf. But other segments, such as Islamic insurance, or [[takaful]], have not seen a similar downturn. Overall, challenges to further growth remain, including a lack of qualified staff to meet the growing demand for sharia-compliant banking services.<ref>{{Cite web |last=online |first=IMF Survey |title=IMF Survey: Islamic Banks: More Resilient to Crisis? |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sores100410a |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=IMF |language=en}}</ref>

===Capital market===
The stock [[market capitalisation]] of listed companies in Qatar was valued at $95,487 million in 2007 by the [[World Bank]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0%2C%2CcontentMDK%3A20394793~menuPK%3A1192714~pagePK%3A64133150~piPK%3A64133175~theSitePK%3A239419%2C00.html|title=Data - Finance|date=5 December 2006|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205235151/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0%2C%2CcontentMDK%3A20394793~menuPK%3A1192714~pagePK%3A64133150~piPK%3A64133175~theSitePK%3A239419%2C00.html|archive-date=5 December 2006|df=dmy-all}}</ref> As 2008 drew to a close, no capital markets around the globe, including Qatar's, were immune to the effects of the sub-prime fallout. That said, there is considerable optimism that Qatar's bourse, the Doha Securities Market (DSM), will remain relatively resilient to the ongoing international turbulence. It has followed the same peak-trough trajectory as many others around the globe, hitting record highs in mid-2008, before diving in late 2008 and early 2009. Between December 2006 and July 2008 the DSM Index rose about 117% before the global financial crisis wiped out most of these gains. In the first few months of 2009, the DSM lost about 40% of its value. In an effort to stave off further losses, the government announced in February 2009 that it would step in to buy up shares of troubled banks amounting to about 10% of the market's capitalisation. The move improved investor optimism and is hoped to prevent the market from falling further. The proposal to create a single unified regulator as early as 2010 to oversee all banking and financial services is viewed as another promising development that will transform the financial sector for the better.