Qatar to show strong growth till 2012

Qatar's economy is likely to grow strongly until 2012, the Qatari Finance Minister said. The economic performance may level off by 2012, he added. 'The IMF and World Bank, actually they were talking about the region, but (they said) that the Qatari economy will grow by almost double digits until 2012 and 2013. We were saying that before the World Bank,' Qatar's Finance Minister Youssef Hussein Kamal said at a conference in London.

'We are going to reach the plateau for the economy by year 2012 because at that time we will (have) almost finished all the projects related to oil and gas and don't have anything to add. That means we have today to think what we will do beyond 2012. 'Still we have (a) strategy for our goal after the year 2012 GDP (growth) should not be less than 7 per cent.'

Qatar is planning to triple its output of liquid natural gas to 77 million tonnes by 2011 from 2006 levels. Analysts forecast Qatar's economy will post a real growth rate of 7.5 per cent in 2006, the second-fastest in the Gulf after the UAE.

The economy of Qatar, which has a population of less than 1 million and is home to the world's third largest gas deposits, has tripled in size since 1998.Reuters endpost