Rating upgrades may be as rare as hens’ teeth these days, but Standard & Poor’s award of a double-A long-term grade to Qatar today should come as no surprise. The country is stinking rich, even by the standards of the Gulf.
Soaring oil and gas sales will bring over $76bn into the finance ministry’s coffers this year, and expand the country’s economy by almost a fifth this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. This has propelled Qataris to the top of the table of the world’s wealthiest people, and impressed rating agencies, economists and bankers alike:
“The upgrade is based on the government’s strengthening fiscal and external balance sheets, with strong growth prospects spurred by new large liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in 2010-2012,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Luc Marchand.
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