Twin challenges cloud Qatar’s red-hot growth

Despite a proliferation of towers under construction and an increase in gaudy hotels in Doha, the capital (pictured above), Qatar can still seem sleepier than most Gulf countries. Yet, while other states contemplate the prospects of contraction or low or non-existent growth, Qataris can be confident that their economy is red hot.

The International Monetary Fund forecast in January that Qatar’s economy would grow a giddy 29 per cent in real terms this year, up from an estimated 16.4 per cent in 2008. This compares to an expected global economic expansion of just 0.5 per cent in 2009, the lowest since the second world war.

“It feels like there is a storm going on, but just over at our neighbours and not over our house,” says David Salt, partner at law firm Clyde & Co in Doha. Another senior expatriate sums up the feeling of Qataris in a word: “Smug.”