TMCnet News
QATAR [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) QATARQatar's real GDP grows 3.9% y/y in Q3 2012. Qatar's gross domestic product (GD) grew 3.9% y/y in Q3 2012 to QAR 87.035bn (USD 23.9bn) in inflation-adjusted terms supported by a revival in the construction industry, the country's statistics authority (QSA) said in a statement on its website. On a quarterly basis, the real GDP increased by 1.7%. Qatar's mining and quarrying sector output, which accounts for around 42.6% of the economy, edged down by 0.8% y/y in constant prices in Q3 2012 to QAR 37.07bn, but inched up by 0.6% from the second quarter. Besides, construction output rose by 9.4% y/y and 5% q/q due to increased activity ahead of the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament. The QSA also said that manufacturing output rose by 13.6% y/y and 4.7% q/q, while output of trade, hotels and restaurants registered a growth of 8.1% y/y and 0.5% q/q. At current prices, GDP increased 5.9% y/y and 1.3% q/q to QAR 175.3bn. Qatar, the world's largest liquefied petroleum gas exporter, sees its GDP growth easing to 6.2% in 2012 from a revised 14.1% in 2011. Qatar's foreign trade surplus widens 1.9% y/y in Q3 2012. Qatar's foreign trade surplus widened by 1.9% y/y to QAR 91.888bn (USD 25.2bn) in the third quarter of 2012 as exports increased by 6.8% y/y to QAR 116.8bn and re-exports surged by 50.6% y/y to QAR 1.7bn, Qatar Statistics Agency (QSA) said in a quarterly bulletin. Meanwhile, imports jumped by 30.9% y/y to QAR 26.6bn. On a quarterly basis, the trade surplus contracted by 3.1% from the second quarter as total exports (including re-exports) declined by 0.3%, while imports increased by 10.7%. The improvement in foreign trade is mostly due to rising international oil prices leading to a hike in Qatar's exports of its main commodities, including LNG (QAR 49.479bn) and crude oil (QAR 23.227bn), while condensate exports decreased by 2.9% q/q to QAR 18.468bn at end-September. In the third quarter of 2012, Japan topped the list of importers buying 27% of Qatari exports, followed by South Korea (22%), India (10%), China (6%) and Taiwan (5%). Meanwhile, the USA and China supplied most of Qatar's imports in the third quarter with a share of 10% and 7%, respectively, followed by Japan with 6% and the UAE and Germany with 5% each. The key five commodities imported during Q3 2012 were new vehicles (QAR 2.7 bn), spare parts for airplanes and helicopters (QAR 983mn), iron ore (QAR 861mn), aluminum oxide (QAR 383mn) and pebbles and gravel (QAR 376mn). Qatar Telecom to increase stake in Tunisiana to 90%. Qatar Telecom (QTel) has agreed to buy a further 15% stake in mobile operator Tunisiana from the Tunisian government for a total consideration of USD 360mn, Qtel said in a bourse statement. Following the acquisition, Qatar's majority state-owned telecom company will increase its stake in Tunisiana to 90%, as it already holds 75% of the Tunisian company through its Kuwaiti unit Wataniya. In 2012, Qtel paid nearly USD 4bn to buy majority ownership of its Iraqi unit Asiacell and Kuwaiti arm Wataniya in two separate deals. The Tunisian government is to retain the remaining 10% stake in Tunisiana with a possibility of a future IPO. (c) 2012 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |