Finance minister: Qatari assets not affected by eurozone crisis

Qatari Finance Minister Yousef Hussein Kamal said here Tuesday that his country's assets in Europe are not affected by the ongoing eurozone debt crisis.Speaking to Xinhua on the sidelines of the annual meeting of Arab finance ministers, Kamal said Qatar is an experienced investor in Europe and has channeled its investments in the eurozone's "trouble child" Greece into small and medium enterprises.On Qatar's credit rating, Kamal said Standard and Poor should rate his country AAA, the top notch enjoyed by Switzerland, Australia and Finland, instead of only AA, arguing "If you look at our financial standing, we have one of the best in the world."Qatar's budget surplus reached a whopping 54 billion Qatari riyal (14.58 billion U.S. dollars) in the fiscal year of 2011-2012. In Europe, Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund controlled by the ruling family Al-Thani, owns Harrod's retail group in London and holds 3 percent of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and 6 percent of Switzerland's second largest lender Credit Suisse.In 2012, Qatar's GDP growth fell to 6.1 percent down from 14 percent in 2011 as the country redirected investments from carbon energy to new sectors such as tourism, infrastructure and trade in order to diversify its economy and prepare for the FIFA World Cup slated for in 2022.