Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2008 totalled 108.4 billion riyals ($29 billion), a 63 percent increase on the same period in 2007.
The oil and gas sector contributed the lion’s share (73 percent), latest figures from the Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) revealed.
Qatar, which holds the world’s largest non-associated gas reserves in the world, saw the gas sector contribute nearly half of the quarterly growth of its GDP, Gulf Times reported on Wednesday.
The report added: “The gross domestic product showed very strong growth in Q3. Crude oil prices were around four percent lower in the third quarter when compared with the second quarter of this year. Still it was 61 percent higher than Q3, 2007.”
Growth in the construction sector’s contribution was “restrained” due to increased costs of materials but still recorded a 20 percent increase over the third quarter of 2007 while the transport and communications sector recorded a 55 percent increase.
The manufacturing sector was up 68 percent while exceptionally large growth was seen in steel and fertiliser manufacturing in the country in the third quarter, QSA data indicated.
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