There are two important economic indicators to analyze the economy of a country:
■ Trade balance (exports and imports surplus or deficit): This indicator reflects the current situation of the real economy. The import and export relation says about the strength and dynamism of the economy. The absolute values both exports and imports affect the Gross Domestic Product, the employment generation and the relation between the national and international currencies .
■ Future potential of country resources and growth: this indicator says the potential of the economy in the future, both physical and intangible resources that the country will use for development. The physical resources are oil, natural gas and metals reserves, installed capacity in its industries, airports capacity and others. The intangible resources are patents, scientific and investigation centers that will give to the country new technological advances that will be transferred to future cash flow from the country.
The Qatar economy today have its cornerstones in the petroleum and natural gas industry with more than 70% of government revenues, 85% of exports earnings and 60% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) .
Qatar had in 2014 had a trade balance of 93.37 billion dollars with exports of 131.6 billion dollars and imports of 38.23 billion dollars. The previous trade balance allows the company to use the surplus for infrastructure and industries investments inside the country. The country has invested in the last 15 years in infrastructure for tourism and exhibitions events to boost the financial and commercial sector of the country.
The potential of the Qatar economy is represented by the 15 million barrels of oil reserves and the 7000 km3 of natural gas that guarantee the continuity of the current Qatar industry for the next 30 years. The current investments in transport, technology and tourism infrastructure will start to diversify the Qatar economy from a gas and oil producer to a manufacturer and service provider country.
Reference List
Atlas Media Mit. (2016). OEC Qatar. Retrieved from http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/qat/
Heritage. (2016). Index of Economic Freedom 2016. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/index/country/qatar
