Qatars Budget Registers Deficit in Q1 First Since 2020

Qatar, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, recorded on Tuesday a budget deficit of 529 million riyals ($145.3 million) in the first quarter of 2025, marking the country’s first deficit since 2020.

Qatar achieved a budget surplus of 2 billion riyals ($548.9 million) in the first quarter of 2024 and a surplus of 930 million riyals ($255 million) in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In a statement on the X platform, the Finance Ministry said the deficit was covered through debt instruments.

Qatar expected a budget deficit of 13.2 billion riyals for 2025, while the total expected revenues for the 2025 fiscal year budget was estimated at 197 billion riyals with an average oil price of $60 per barrel.

“Total revenue in the quarter stood at 49.4 billion riyals ($13.57 billion), down 7.5% from the same quarter last year,” the Ministry said on Tuesday, noting that these revenues comprised 42.5 billion riyals in oil and gas revenues and 6.9 billion riyals in non-oil revenues.

The Ministry statement further noted that total public expenditure during the first quarter of 2025 amounted to roughly 49.9 billion riyals, registering a 2.8% decline compared to the first quarter of 2024.

The expenditure was allocated as follows: 16.9 billion riyals for salaries and wages, 18.5 billion riyals for current expenditures, 13.1 billion riyals for major capital expenditures, and 1.2 billion riyals for minor capital expenditures.

The statement highlighted that the total value of government procurement contracts executed through tenders and auctions by public entities during the first quarter of 2025 amounted to approximately 6.4 billion riyals.

Contracts awarded to foreign companies totaled around 1.5 billion riyals, marking a 50% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Overall, the Ministry stated that the top four sectors according to the Business Activity Index during the first quarter of 2025 were municipality and environment, health, energy, and the General Secretariat of the government.

aawsat.com