Qatar witnesses a prosperous start to 2021, first scoring a major political goal by restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and ending its almost 4-year long embargo. Following a political breakthrough come an unexpected revenue bonanza, which saw Doha happily riding the waves of spiking Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) prices in Asia. The combination of both developments – Qatar casting away its pariah state and probably playing a more nuanced …
Read More »Prospects of foreign remittance into Pakistan
Pakistan is one of the major beneficiaries of foreign remittances, whereas the volume of foreign remittances to Pakistan has also increased in recent past. The growth of these flows has outpaced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and official development assistance to the country. Pakistan started to export manpower abroad particularly in the Middle East countries following oil price boom in the early 1970s. Because of labor shortage in the Middle East, …
Read More »Qatar economy – strong savings base to neutralize oil slump effect
A Gulf Times news article opens with the following lines; ‘Sharp decline in global energy prices appear to have taken a heavy toll on Qatar, whose trade surplus shrank considerably in January this year as exports plummeted amid rising imports, according to official figures. The trade surplus of energy-major Qatar, which is fast powering its non-hydrocarbon segments as part of diversification, plummeted 48.3% year-on-year to QR18.54bn on substantially lower …
Read More »Dazzling colors of a booming economy
Qatar the Asian land of opportunities December 18 marks Qatar’s National Day. On this date, every year, the waterfront promenade Corniche witnesses in sheer joy the display of several volleys of hot colors emblazoning the sky. The dazzling night-time firework unleashes all prideful colors of Qatar’s veritable history and booming economy. A nation of 2.3 million people occupying 11,570 square kilometer of land, Qatar is one of the world’s …
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