Confusion in Qatar
Industry bosses are in agreement that Qatar has so far largely avoided the effects of the global financial crisis, but they appear to remain divided on what the future holds.
Although Qatar has currently been less affected by the global financial crisis than some other Gulf states, recent reports show the country may not be as immune as previously thought. Figures issued in a report by Kuwait investment bank Markaz, show 38% of Qatar's population work in real estate and construction, which is cited as "a possibility for over-dependence in the sector," compared with 12% in Saudi Arabia and 7.85% in the US.
However, despite the prevalence of doom-mongering in the Gulf, the attitudes of industry figures in Qatar appear decidedly positive.
"Nobody is immune. If you live on the planet, you've been affected, there's no question about it, but I think Qatar is extremely well placed for two reasons," says Brian Meilleur, president and COO of Al Wa'ab City, a US$3.2bn mixed-use development underway in Doha.
"One, the underlying economy here is based on gas and, to some extent, oil, and therefore it's got a fundamentally real economy.
"The second thing is that Qatar is at the beginning of the growth phase, a major growth phase, as opposed to Dubai, which is well along in the growth cycle. Real estate here is very much a catch-up industry, and therefore the real estate industry is responding to demand which is already there, as opposed to trying to create demand," he explains.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...
"""""Industry bosses are in agreement that Qatar has so far largely avoided the effects of the global financial crisis, but they appear to remain divided on what the future holds""""
the above is for public consumption. This is confirmed by a top govt employee to management of a construction company almost to be closed due to cancellation of project worth min 4 Bn QR
...and the confusing part was??
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Of course Doha, Qatar is not immuned...but just how deeply affected is still unknown. We'll never know for sure until some real stats from real people living and working in this area are polled.
Until then, like others have said, we will read about the promise land with the magic tent surrounding it.
Leaving aside Qatar, it would be hard to say that the global economy has hit rock bottom. It hasn't.
The US economy MAY move out of recession after 9 months (ie the end of this year). Or it may not.
In the meantime the Euro zone is going from bad to worse, and Asia is going from bad to worse.
I fail to see how anyone can reasonably say that Qatar will be 100% unaffected. Exactly WHO will be buying all this LNG? And with mass redundancies globally, that will push down the wages of new recruits to the country which will lower consumer spending.
Qatar HAS been affected. Qatar will continue to be affected. Things will get worse. I don't see how that can be denied.
The government didn't throw stack loads of cash at the local banks and buy out their risky investments for fun. They did it because investors here are suffering.
The questions that no one can answer are:
How much worse will it get?
When will things begin to improve?
The attached article talks about 5 year projections for property, so does that give us an idea of when they see a turn around?
I keep reading mixed reports. Some say it is starting to become effected, some like this which say it is immune. As fubar said, only independent sources and time, will tell.
I just feel that sources like the ones quoted in this article will always be biased towards talking up the positive aspects of their industry.
I can't take seriously the COO of a major real estate investment when he says that real estate is a good investment. What else is he supposed to say?
Why do we never see independent opinions from independent groups, banks or auditors? Instead it's always a press release from a developer masquerading as news.
in the garden of gulf region that bees wanted to flock in.
"I do live by the motto that pessimists are usually right, but all the great change in history was done by optimists" -Thomas Friedman