Qatar expects growth

Qatari Minister of Economy and Finance Yousif Hussain Kamal expected on Tuesday the country's economy to achieve a growth of 5.4 percent this year, pointing out that economic growth prospects over the next few years will be around five percent annually. Addressing the opening session of the Euromoney Qatar Conference, which kicked off earlier, the minister said the state's efforts to achieve the optimum utilization of energy sources and the diversification of economic activity helped Qatar's economy achieve record growth rates over the past years with the average compound annual growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices reaching 14.8 percent between 2011 and 2017. Kamal also pointed out that Qatar has developed a fundamental objective in Qatar National Vision 2030 which is to achieve financial stability through sound fiscal policies and a risk-free effective financial system. The minister noted that the vision's interest in financial stability comes in the quest of the State to achieve economic diversification and to strengthen the capacity of the national economy to absorb global economy shocks which require a powerful financial system able to support various economic sectors at all times. The Qatari official added that the conference comes at a very important time as the global economy is facing more pressure since the beginning of this year as a result of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone and the Arab Spring countries, which have recently seen political changes and are currently suffering from the economic consequences of these changes