Qatar Economic Outlook Issue Number 13

Table 2-2: Economic performance of emerging and the Middle East countries in 
2020 
Before Covid Covid-2020 
WOE issuance date 2021 
Oct-19 
Apr- 
Oct- 
Jan 
Apr 
Jul 
Oct 
World 
3.4
 
-3.0 
-4.4 
-3.5 -3.3 
-3.2 
-3.1 
Advanced economies
1.7
-6.1 
-5.8 
-4.9 -4.7 
-4.6 
-4.5 
United States 
2.5
-3.5 
-6.6 
-3.4 -3.5 
-3.5 
-3.4 
Emerging Market
4.6
-1.1 
-3.3 
-2.4 -2.2 
-2.1 
-2.1 
China
2.1
1.2 
1.9 
2.3 
2.3 
2.3 
2.3 
Middle East
& North Africa
2.9
-2.8 
-4.1 
-3.2 -2.9 
-2.6 
-2.8 
GCC 
2.7
-2.9 
-6.6 
0.0 
-5.4 
0.0 
-5.1 
Qatar 
2.8
 
-4.3 
-4.5 
0.0 
-2.6 
0.0 
-3.6 
Saudi Arabia
2.2
-2.3 
-5.4 
-3.9 -4.1 
-4.1 
-4.1 
Source: IMF, “World Economic Outlook”, labeled by the date of the report’s issuance, 
the latest of which October 2021 

---

Qatar Economic Outlook 2021 - 2023 
52 
economy of the State of Qatar, for which the 
IMF has marked down the severity of the 
decline from negative 4.3% in the April 2020 
WEO to negative 2.6% in the April 2021 
WEO. Nonetheless, the Planning and 
Statistics Authority, as per its press release 
in April 2021, concluded that the Qatari 
economy contracted in 2020 by negative 
3.56%, later IMF revising the contraction to 
negative 3.56% in the October 2021 WEO. 
COVID-19 Impact on Qatar 
Economy in 2020
Like other world economies, the economy of 
the State of Qatar in 2020 was affected by the 
health repercussions of the COVID-19 
pandemic and the measures taken to contain 
it, which led to a dual shock to the Qatari 
economy – that is, both externally and 
internally. The impact of the external shock 
was greater due to the structure of the Qatari 
economy as it is exposed to external 
economies at a level of 91%. Thus, the 
measures to contain Covid-19 directly and 
indirectly affected the overall economic 
activities, whether oil or non-oil. Figure (2-1) 
indicates a decrease in the annual rate of 
change for the nominal GDP in 2020 by about 
negative 18%, and for the real GDP by about 
negative 3.6%. The decline derives from the 
weakening of oil activities by negative 2%, 
and non-oil activities by negative 4.5%, the 
most important of which are: the subsidiary 
activities of the services sector, specifically 
those related to tourism activities such as 
transportation, hotels, catering, arts and 
culture, and sports activities. But as it is 
noticed from Figure (2-1) that GDP has 
improved during the first three quarters of 
2021. 
Impacts of fluctuations in global oil 
markets
The COVID-19 containment measures 
around the globe have resulted in the 
collapse of the international oil and gas 
market 
and 
reduced 
demand 
for 
consumption quantities and prices, as shown 
in Figure 2-2, according to estimates by the 
US Energy Information Administration (EIA), 
which will directly affect the oil export 
revenues of the State of Qatar, then the 
nominal domestic product, the state's public 
revenues, and the balance of payments, as 
will be discussed in the various topics of the 
report.