The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) has released the sixteenth issue of the quarterly publication “Window on Economic Statistics of Qatar”.
The reference quarter of this issue is the first quarter of 2016 (Q1 2016). All the latest available macro-economic indicators, relating to National Accounts (revised estimates as at August 2016), Prices, Public Finance, and the Balance of Payments have been assembled in a single report.
It is a very handy report and is meant to help diverse users, in particular, policy and decision makers.
This publication comprises three parts:
Part 1: Comparing the economic performance of Qatar with other economies and regions, in terms of three indicators: (i) Real GDP annual growth rate, (ii) CPI (y-o-y) change and (iii) Current Account Balance as percentage of GDP:
- GDP in real terms, grew by 3.6% in 2015, which compares with a growth rate of 3.1 % for the World, 1.9% for Advanced Economies, and 2.3% for the Middle East and North Africa.
- The year-on-year change in the CPI, in 2015, was 1.8% for Qatar, which compares with 3.3%, for the World, 0.3% for the Advanced Economies and 5.9%, for the Middle East and North Africa.
- The Current Account Balance as percentage of GDP, in 2015, remained among the highest in the world at 8.4%, compared to 0.7%, for the Advanced Economies and
-3.9% (deficit) for the Middle East and North Africa.
- Three new tables showing the revised estimates of GDP by activity, according to the new classification (ISIC Rev. 4) and, by components of expenditure, for the years 2011 through 2015, are given at Part 1.
Part 2 presents an analysis of the quarterly statistics relating to GDP, CPI, PPI, Exports and Imports and compares the performance in the first quarter of 2016 with that of the corresponding quarter of 2015 and, with that of the previous quarter.
Part 3: The title of the article is “Proposed Methodology for the Compilation of a Construction Material Price Index”.
