Mirroring a trend seen across the Gulf, two Qatari lenders announced the country’s first bank merger in 2019. In April of that year Barwa Bank and International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) announced the finalisation of negotiations and clearance of regulatory requirements necessary to consolidate operations. The merged entity, which operates as Barwa Bank, has total assets worth approximately QR80bn…
In 2019 the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) announced its plans to introduce standardised criteria for sharia compliance. The bank revealed that it was working with a consultancy firm to “prepare principles and standards that govern the various Islamic banking products and transactions, and the legal supervision thereof”. Qatar’s four local Islamic banks currently employ their own sharia supervisory…
Qatar’s North Field expansion (NFE) project has continued to grow in scope since it was first mooted in 2017; however, in February 2020 the project was temporarily postponed. This decision comes in the wake of declining gas prices and the increasing supply from the US and other countries. As of March 2020 the delay was expected to push the project back until 2021, and a number of deadlines…
As the National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed) moves into its eighth year, the Qatari government continues to pursue a variety of initiatives to support its drive towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly rates of water and electricity consumption. With earth-conscious technologies drawing increased global investment and coming down in price as a result,…
In July 2019 Qatargas announced it delivered its 3000th liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment to Japan since Qatar’s first delivery of the resource in early 1997. In the interim years, Qatar has become the world’s largest LNG producer in the world, producing 77m tonnes a year. According to BP’s “Statistical Review of World Energy 2019”, Qatar was the largest exporter of LNG in 2018,…
Citizens, residents and visitors to Qatar have seen the impact of the recent investment made in public transport, with the full operation of the Doha Metro offering convenient travel options. In 2019 driverless trains also commenced operations, providing a cheap alternative way of moving around the capital. The Lusail Tram, meanwhile, is expected to open in two phases in 2020, further expanding…
In 2017 the newly established Hamad Port found itself centre stage in the country’s response to the economic blockade imposed by some neighbouring countries. Existing maritime trade routes to the blockading countries were closed and quickly replaced with new partnerships in Oman, Kuwait and further afield. “The blockade set the pace for rapid development in Qatar,” Mohammed Khalifa Al…
Following several years of global economic uncertainty, budget deficits and unpredictable oil prices, in April 2019 the Council of Ministers approved a long-discussed public-private partnership (PPP) law, expected to be formally enacted in 2020. The new law is intended to clarify and regulate the framework for projects involving both the government and private firms. Also in early 2019, Sheikh…
As the latest policy piece in the government’s drive to create a knowledge-based economy built on leveraging the newest technologies, the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy was launched in October 2019. The strategy, developed by the Qatar Computing Research Institute at Hamad bin Khalifa University, is designed to identify economic opportunities and research potential in the…
While much public focus is on preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a number of government and private sector initiatives are laying a foundation for Qatar to become a global centre for sporting. Under the guidance of Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030), the country is building a sports event management and research centre as part of its economic diversification plans. Leveraging this…
