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Qatar Special Report: Hotel occupancy comes under pressure
Committed to supplying 90,000 hotel rooms in time for hosting the World Cup in 2022, Doha is making good progress in getting new hotels built
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Qatar Special Report: Economy ready for eurozone fallout
Qatar is shifting gear. For the past five years, the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports have fuelled annual economic growth of close to 20 per cent
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Qatar Special Report: Shura Council elections set for 2013
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani’s recent announcement that elections for the Shura Council would be held for the first time in 2013 took people by surprise, not least many Qataris themselves
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Qatar Special Report: Banks prepare for bid bond increase
On 3 September, Qatar marked its 40th year of independence from Britain
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Qatar Banking
The decision by the Qatar Central Bank in February to shut the Islamic windows of the country’s conventional banks has transformed the sharia-compliant banking sector
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Qatar Special Report: World Cup to boost Qatar Airways' growth
The rise of Qatar Airways in many ways mirrors the recent growth of Qatar’s economy
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Special Report: Qatar - Construction boom dependent on Fifa World Cup bid
A lot is riding on Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup, football’s biggest event
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Special Report: GCC – Euro crisis has lessons for planned GCC currency union
The crisis that has played out across the eurozone in recent months offers a timely lesson for the GCC member states and their proposed single currency
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Special Report: Qatar sovereign fund begins spending spree
A huge wave of industrial projects have been launched in Qatar since the giant North Field began gas production in 1991
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Special Report: Qatar – Population rise poses challenges
Qatar has experienced a demographic explosion in the past five years, with the population more than doubling in size to 1.6 million in late 2009
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Special Report: Power & Water - Gulf opts for oil-fired plants
Just seven months ago, in March, the Abu Dhabi government released a report saying that the economic and environmental cost of using oil as a fuel for power plants was too high to be considered
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Special Report: GCC - Power grid raises hopes of regional co-operation
The rulers of the six GCC member states will find little to cheer about when they meet for the council’s annual meeting in December, which this year is being hosted by Kuwait
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Special Report: Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals - Private equity funds growth
Improving the quality of healthcare is a critical policy challenge for governments across the GCC, with heavy investment needed to build large, modern facilities after decades of underinvestment.
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Special Report: Real Estate - Revival of Gulf low-cost housing
For anyone unfamiliar with the Gulf’s real estate sector, the news that there is strong demand for affordable housing may come as a surprise.
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Special Report: Qatar - Gas exports fuel project growth
It is a testament to Qatar’s financial strength that, despite the country’s banks facing difficulties from bad loans and funding constraints, its economy is still expected to grow more quickly this year than any other in the world.
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Special Report: Construction - State funding fuels regional activity
Gulf developers are slowly adjusting to the idea that the region needs more affordable homes. While there are still enough cash-rich buyers in the market to provide some demand for high-end developments, the cash-poor status of many developers means that building lower-cost houses, for which there is larger, proven demand, makes more business sense.
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Special Report: Major projects - Reshaping regional cities
The region’s major cities are responding to unprecedented population growth by drawing up masterplans which will reshape the region’s urban centres, from Abu Dhabi to Algiers.
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Special Report: Oil & Gas Contractor Survey - Caution slows contract awards
On paper, the number of pending contract awards on oil and gas projects in the Gulf is healthy. There are 55 such projects worth more than $1bn, each in various stages of planning.
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Special Report: Qatar - Gas exports fuel economic growth
The hotel lobbies and restaurants of Doha are still buzzing with the sound of business meetings, unlike most other cities in the Gulf. “There is no sign of a recession in Doha,” says one visiting banker.
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Special Report: Construction - Gulf contractors under pressure
Clients have stopped inviting firms to bid for new projects, contract awards are being revoked and designers are being told to redesign their schemes. All this would have been unthinkable in the Gulf six months ago, but it is now the reality.
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Special Report: Oil and Gas - Upstream plans suffer setbacks
For all the international oil companies’ (IOCs) talk about long-term planning, the current low in oil prices, coupled with the global economic downturn, has affected IOCs as much as any other business sector.
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Special Report: GCC - Leaders prepare for crucial summit
If all goes to plan, next month’s GCC summit in Muscat will give the go-ahead for construction to start in 2010 on the long-discussed GCC regional railway.
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Special Report: Healthcare - GCC states broaden private sector role
The Levant’s pedigree in medical training has benefited the Gulf for a long time.
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Special Report: Qatar - Restructuring the financial sector
Euro-US stock exchange operator NYSE Euronext has taken a bold position in the Gulf states’ stock exchange rivalry, after choosing to invest $250m for a 25 per cent holding in Doha Securities Market (DSM).
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Special Report: Banking - The rise of Islamic finance
Since questions were raised earlier this year over the compliance with sharia law of a common form of sukuk (Islamic bond), doomsayers have warned of the impending demise of Islamic finance.
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Special Report: Petrochemicals - Firms seek new feedstocks
Nothing is more indicative of the region’s struggle to source ethane than the decision of a country with the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves to turn to oil-derived feedstock.
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Special Report: Petrochemicals - Firms seek new feedstocks
Nothing is more indicative of the region’s struggle to source ethane than the decision of a country with the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves to turn to oil-derived feedstock.
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Special Report: Why Qatar could extend its gas moratorium
Despite the moratorium on new exploration activity, which effectively locks international firms out of Qatar’s giant North field, there is still plenty happening in the state’s energy sector. Four new offshore exploration rounds are being launched and the oil majors are jostling to gain new acreage.
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Special Report: Construction - The move to partnership
Despite much talk over the past few years about the introduction of long-term alliances between construction clients and contractors, partnering agreements remain rare in the region.
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Special Report: GCC construction sector - Branching Out
Liberalising the property market has boosted the GCC construction sector, but challenges remain for both governments and developers alike.
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Special report: Qatar - Doha struggles with rising inflation
With growth of about 14 per cent a year, Qatar is one of the world’s fastest growing economies. It has the highest per capita GDP in the Middle East.
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Special report: GCC - Increasing global influence
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) plan to provide enriched uranium to nuclear power plants across the Middle East represents a bold attempt to defuse the international crisis surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme. It also represents the organisation’s first significant step onto the international diplomatic stage.
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