Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) has issued a press release on the new statistical indicator; i.e. Industrial Production Index in the State of Qatar, to contribute with other statistical indicators to studying and analyzing the economic level of the state. This index details out the growth of various industrial sectors in an economy such as “Mining”, “Manufacturing”, “Electricity production and “Water production and desalination”. It is a short-term quantitative index that measures the changes in the volume of production of a selected basket of industrial products over a given period with respect to that in a chosen period called the base period. International standards are taken into account and followed in the collection, calculation and dissemination of this index in line with the requirements of the System of National Accounts.
The Industrial Production Index – based on the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC4) - covers the following main activities:
1. “Mining and Quarrying” Activity: It includes the extraction of crude oil and natural gas, quarrying of stones and sand.
2. “Manufacturing:: It includes the food and beverages production and industries, refined petroleum products, basic chemicals and other manufacturing industries.
3. “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply”: It includes electric power generation and distribution and air conditioning connection.
4. “Water supply”: It includes the production, desalination and distribution of water.
In order to calculate the Industrial Production Index, the abovementioned classification (ISIC4) is used to classify the major industries from level 1 to level 4, and the Central Product Classification version 2 (CPC Ver.2) is also used to classify subgroups from level 5 to level 7.
The data of Quantitative production are collected from key and specified sources to be comparable for different periods of time. Qatar Petroleum and other companies operating in the oil and gas production are the major and exclusive sources of data, being contacted periodically to collect data; either through direct visits or the electronic collection. As well, manufacturers of cement, iron and aluminum, and the petrochemical and petroleum refining companies are the key and exclusive sources in the manufacturing activity. In other industries, a systematic sample is taken from the establishments frame that is updated in 2013 (the selected base year). As for electricity and water, all data are collected through direct contact or electronic collection from different sources, It is worth mentioning that the number of sources from whom data are periodically collected is 76.
In order to calculate any index, a base year must be chosen, so 2013 was selected as the base year in the calculation of this index so as to be compared to the subsequent periods. This year is also the base year for calculating the other indices issued by the Ministry, as well as being the reference year in estimates of GDP at constant prices.
In the calculation of the weights involved in the composition of the index (relative importance), the value added of the goods and products was used. The value added of each economic activity of the index was distributed to the products listed under each group (or economic activity) by the ratio of the production value of the product to the total production of the group.
Production data from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2017 have been studied, and this report exclusively includes the Industrial Production Index of the First Quarter of 2017, compared to the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter in 2016. A graph (1) shows the series of Industrial Production Indices as of the first quarter of 2014 to the end of the first quarter of 2017 at the overall index level.
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