Rents in Qatar should stabilise during the next 12 months and the country is committed to keeping its currency pegged to the dollar, the local Gulf Times reported on Tuesday, citing the minister of finance.
Rents, one of the main drivers of inflation in the oil and gas producer, rose 1.6% in the second quarter, compared with 1.9% in the first quarter, “pointing towards stabilisation of house rents, before coming down even further”, Youssef Hussein Kamal said, according to the newspaper.
“Inflation will not affect growth in Qatar,” Kamal said. “We have a positive growth and this is an indication of a potential for more growth.”
Qatar is proposing rent law, Kamal said, according to the Peninsula newspaper, without giving further details.
“Our trade, most of our imports, exports and loans are in US dollars and ending the link with the dollar would keep people worried all the time,” he said.
Rents surged 168% in the five years to 2006 due to a shortage of residential units and higher building costs, Kamal said.
The government is building 6,000 residential units for delivery by 2009, he said.
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