Qatar to unveil record budget of $60bn

Qatar is expected to unveil its highest ever budget of QR220 billion ($60 billion; Dh220 billion) in the next two days as the world’s top LNG exporter is pushing ahead with a massive infrastructure drive, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Gulf country will likely assume a $70 price for its crude in the 2014-2015 budget, which starts on April 1, the Arabic language daily Al Arab said.

Citing “informed sources”, the paper said the forecast oil price remains conservative compared with the current actual crude prices of more than $100 a barrel, adding that this would allow Qatar again to record a large fiscal surplus.

“The new budget will again focus on infrastructure projects with the same momentum and even more,” the report said.

It said new projects would be announced in this fiscal year’s budget following “marathon” meetings between the finance ministry and nearly 110 government departments over the past three months.

It added that spending on new projects this year would be “even more generous” than in previous years despite a sharp annual increase in such expenditure since Qatar won a bid in 2010 to host the 2020 World Cup.

Qatar approved spending of QR 210.6 ($57.6 billion) and revenue of QR218.1 billion ($59.7 billion) in fiscal 2013-2014, leaving a surplus of $2.1 billion).

Besides oil production of nearly 800,000 bpd, Qatar is the world’s largest LNG supplier, with an output of around 77 million tonnes per year.