Qatar’s ample natural resources and returns from the country’s well deployed investments will help the government finance its investment programme amid a drop in lower oil prices.

Diversifying the economy away from oil and gas is central to Qatar’s strategic plan and the country’s sizeable investment programme should continue to drive non-hydrocarbon growth and lead to further economic diversification going forward.

Recently, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDP&S) said in its Qatar Economic Outlook 2014-16 update that Qatar’s economy was estimated to grow 7.7% in 2015 and 7.5% in 2016 mainly powered by the non-hydrocarbon sector; services and construction in particular.

Vigorous investment spending, an expansionary fiscal stance and a rising population will continue to spur robust broad-based growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector.

Services will be the largest contributor to growth, followed by construction, which will continue to benefit from the rollout of planned public investment projects, including local roads and expressways, Doha Metro and rail, drains and sanitation, and construction of new health centres and education facilities.

After sluggish out-turns in 2013 and 2014, manufacturing growth will rebound somewhat in 2015 and continue to pick up in 2016, it said, adding this revival will be driven mainly by planned capacity expansion in downstream activities, supported by availability of feedstock from the Barzan Gas Project.

Non-hydrocarbon real GDP growth is expected to continue accelerating as the government implements its ambitious investment programme ahead of the 2022 World Cup, a recent QNB report showed.

Qatar remains well positioned to undertake long-term investment plans. The key drivers of long-term growth are Qatar National Vision 2030 (the country’s long-term development plan) and the FIFA 2022 World Cup.

Infrastructure investment is taking centre stage. Qatar has awarded numerous infrastructure projects in 2014 to prepare to host FIFA 2022 and to address long-term infrastructure needs arising from rapid population growth.

Standard Chartered bank expects Qatar’s spending to increase further in 2015. Population growth is one driver of long-term investment.

The government forecasts that the population could rise to 3.8mn by 2030 from around 2mn currently.

Under Qatar’s national development strategy, an estimated $183bn of investment is planned between 2011 and 2016, bank data show. It also estimates that almost $27bn of key infrastructure projects have been awarded in 2014 and expects project spending to reach $34bn in 2015.

But to sustain Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon growth the country’s private sector will have to play an even greater role in the national economy.

HE the Minister of Development Planning & Statistics, Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit, emphasised this in a recent statement. He said: “To support long-term deepening of the economic base, more needs to be done to boost private sector participation in the economy and the upgrading of skills, technology and productivity.”

“In 2015, with momentum still gathering in non-hydrocarbons, the sector’s share of GDP (gross domestic product) will overtake that of oil and gas, and continue rising in 2016 and beyond. This diversification of output and the broadening of the economic base are very welcome,” al-Nabit said.