Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said it has invested $112.3 million in Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce is a government-backed project to develop small nuclear reactors in Britain, according to The Times.
QIA is set to acquire 10% of the shares in Rolls-Royce small modular reactor company, which is majority-owned by Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce
The company was also set up to develop “low-cost, low-carbon” nuclear energy technology.
QIA joins a number of project supporters, mainly, BNF Resources UK, owned by the family of French billionaire Perrodo; Exelon Generation, the largest non-government nuclear operator in the United States; and the United Kingdom Research and Innovation Fund.
Rolls-Royce has been designing a nuclear reactor plant since the UK’s nuclear submarine program began in the 1950s.
The company says the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor power plant will be able to generate 470 megawatts of low-carbon energy. and provide stable baseline generation for at least 60 years.
It is expected to generate £52 billion in economic benefits.
Qatari economy
In a related context, the Qatari economy is moving steadily towards diversification and overcoming the challenges it faces.
The Qatari economy is also witnessing a huge growth boom that has placed it at the forefront of countries with the highest per capita GDP growth.
Qatar is also the largest exporter of liquefied gas in the world, and it is heading to enhance its share of global consumption of liquefied natural gas, due to existing projects to increase production during the next ten years.
Although the Qatari economy was affected during the past year by the Coronavirus pandemic, and its consequences on global demand for traditional energy sources, most notably liquefied natural gas, it quickly recovered in 2021.
The country’s GDP amounted to about $145.5 billion during the past year. It recovered quickly in 2021, and is heading to achieve a gross domestic product of $169.2 billion.
With the country imminent hosting the World Cup in November 2022, the GDP is expected to grow to $180.88 billion. It will continue to rise to $213 billion by 2026.
