Gas-rich Qatar said on Sunday it has no intention of scaling down massive investments at home and abroad as a result of the global financial crisis.“We have no intention of halting infrastructure projects at home or reducing overseas investments,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al-Thani told a joint news conference with visiting Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis.
“All projects are ongoing and we are preparing a budget which will speak for itself,” he said.
Qatar is investing between $130 billion and $150 billion in the energy sector and in infrastructure projects.
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the tiny Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund chaired by the prime minister, manages assets estimated at up to $50 billion.
The statement was made on the same day that reports said that QIA is set to boost its investment in British bank Barclays as part of a 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) rescue package.
The Qataris could subscribe to 1 billion pounds of new loans stock in the British bank, in which it already holds an 8 percent stake, with another 1 billion pounds being taken up by the bank’s institutional shareholders, The Observer newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources.
Barclays needs the funds to comply with new government requirements to meet tighter capital adequacy ratios, The Observer said.
Barclays declined to comment on the report.
Sheikh Hamad also reiterated that OPEC member Qatar favours a price in the range of $70 to $90 for a barrel of oil, saying it would be “beneficial to both producers and consumers.”
The Qatari prime minister said the recent slump on the Qatari stock market was “unjustified, since all companies in Qatar have posted good earnings.”
Shares in Qatar and other stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf region plunged on Sunday amid growing expectations of a global recession.
The Doha Securities Market dived 8.93 percent to end the day below the 7,000-point mark at 6,892.95 points.
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