DOHA – Qatar's economy is expected to slow down to a single digit growth rate through 2012-2014 after racing by at least 13 percent in the previous years because of a surge in the country's gas exports, figures by National Commercial Bank (NCB) showed. The real GDP of the world's top LNG supplier galloped by nearly 18.8 percent in 2011 and growth is projected to dive to around 6.9 percent in 2012 and continue to slacken to reach 4.8 percent in 2013 and 4.6 percent in 2014. The slowdown will be caused mainly by a sharp fall in growth in the hydrocarbon sector after Qatar completed mega projects to tap its mammoth offshore North Field, the world's largest single reservoir of non-associated gas. The bank data showed the hydrocarbon sector rocketed by around 31.1 percent in 2011 and growth is forecast to slow down to about 5.3 percent in 2012 before diving to 0.8 percent in 2013 and zero growth in 2014. The study projected Qatar's nonoil sector growth at around 8.8 percent in 2012 compared with nine percent in 2011. It expected growth to remain strong at around 8.5 percent in 2013 and 8.9 percent in 2014. “Qatar remains convincingly the regional star performer in terms of economic growth, although it is clear that the pace is moderating from the two-digit growth of recent years as the natural gas-LNG investment pipeline in the country matures,” NCB said in a study. – SG
