Doha, (Business News Report)|| Qatar’s trade balance recorded a surplus of 130 percent during the past year 2021, compared to the previous year.
The Qatari Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics said that Qatar’s trade balance, which represents the difference between total exports and imports, recorded a surplus last year of 215.24 billion riyals ($59.47 billion).
Qatar’s trade balance surplus was 93.43 billion riyals ($25.81 billion) in 2020.
Qatari data revealed that the value of the country’s exports last year amounted to 317.40 billion riyals ($87.71 billion), up from 187.47 billion riyals ($51.8 billion) in 2020.
Meanwhile, imports rose to 102.17 billion riyals ($28.23 billion) from 94.03 billion riyals ($25.98 billion) in 2020.
The improvement in Qatar’s trade surplus reflects the recovery of the country’s economy, the improvement in global demand for natural gas, and the record rise in its prices.
Last month, the Qatar Planning and Statistics Authority said that it expects the national economy to grow at rates ranging between 1.6 and 2.9 percent this year.
Qatar is the world’s largest producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas, and faces tough competition for market share as exports from major suppliers such as Australia and the United States increase.
Industrial production index
In a related context, the industrial production index in the State of Qatar increased during the month of December by 12.5% on a monthly basis. And the industrial production index increased by 3.7% on an annual basis, compared to 2020.
The index reached 104.4 points, which reflects the details of the growth of the various sectors.
Issued by the Planning and Statistics Authority, the index shows the growth of the various industrial economic sectors represented in mining with a relative importance of 83.6% of the weight of the indicator, then manufacturing industries, electricity production, and water production and desalination, with a relative importance of 15.2%, 0.7%, and 0.5%, respectively.
Data indicates that the mining sector index rose by 15.5% on a monthly basis, as a result of the increase in the production of the crude oil and natural gas by the same percentage and other mining and quarrying activities by 5.7%.
Meanwhile the annual increase in the sector was about 4.7% compared to December 2020.
