Qatar Economic Outlook Issue Number 13

Box 1-6
: The Qatar Riyal’s Real Effective Exchange Rate
 
The real effective exchange rate of the Qatari riyal was calculated on the basis of the exchange rates 
and inflation rates of its trading partners, as clarified in the (Appendix of economic and financial 
terms) at the end of this report. It is clear from the figure (below) that the Qatari riyal moves in a 
direction and changes its value at the same pace as the dollar indices, because it reflects the 
difference in prices and inflation of the trading partners of both the riyal and the dollar. They have 
gained purchasing power which may reduce the inflationary effects of Qatar's trading partners. 

---

Qatar Economic Outlook 2021 - 2023 
36 
Lessons From COVID-19 for 
Moving Towards a Green and 
Climate Economy 
Despite the cost in lives, as well as social and 
economic losses deriving from Covid-19 
containment measures, the pandemic has 
taught humanity to embrace an alternative 
lifestyle as far as consumption and 
production processes are concerned, the 
results of which have turned out to be eco-
friendly, including (1) illuminating how a 
decline in agricultural and industrial 
production and services, including road and 
air transport, can lead to a marked reduction 
in air pollution, (2) underscoring how the 
change of lifestyles, such as rationed 
household consumption, lower consumer 
spending which increased household 
savings worldwide (with the exception of the 
US, where the inability to travel and eat out 
turned discretionary spending to the 
purchase of durable goods)
18
, (3) increased 
the use of information technology to 
communicate, complete educational tasks, 
and work from home, which are able to reflect 
positively on the environment by reducing 
commuting to work places, (4) demonstrating 
how economic systems and health 
infrastructures were insufficiently prepared to 
cope with a global pandemic, bolstering the 
concept that humanity must hasten to 
prepare for the inevitable next one – because 
even if the anthropogenic causes of global 
heating are reduced, completely avoiding the 
multiple negative effects of the climate crisis 
will be difficult to achieve since unsustainable 
economic structures, particularly the 
ambitions of achieving unlimited economic 
growth, leads governments to search for 
adaptation solutions instead of reaching for 
zero emissions, and (5) highlighting how 
18
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-
development/2020/12/14/the-decline-and-recovery-of-consumer-
spending-in-the-us
environmental and health disasters do not 
have political or geographical borders, which 
therefore mandates international cooperation 
and a unified behavior of countries and 
individuals in dealing with environmental 
issues as guided by scientific studies. 
This silver lining of the Covid-19 containment 
measures provided the world with robust 
evidence through the means of a natural 
experiment of what advocates for 
environmental protection have been calling 
for over the past three or more decades, 
within the framework of United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change 
(UNFCCC), its conferences and agreements, 
the most recent of which was the Glasgow 
Climate Conference (COP26) held in 
November 2021, see Box (1-7). 
The scientific consensus
19
that human 
practices in consumption and production are 
behind climate change the world is endorsed 
by nearly all governments; the climate crisis 
is now being viewed as urgent and current, 
rather than hypothesized and distant, as the 
world is witnessing today that anthropogenic 
climate change has led to an increase in 
global warming, triggering in many countries 
extreme heat and drought, immense 
wildfires, and increasing catastrophic floods, 
all of which both kill people and endanger 
food production.
 
19
Le Quéré, C., Jackson, R.B., Jones, M.W. et al. Temporary reduction in 
daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement. 
Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 647
–
653 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-
020-0797-x

---