Qatar National Bank (QNB) chief executive officer Ali Ahmad al-Kuwari says there will be no let up in Qatar’s projects spending plans despite lower oil prices.

Speaking at MEED’s Qatar Projects 2015 conference in Doha today, Al-Kuwari said that Doha’s conservative fiscal policy of the past four years had ensured strong budget surpluses and financial reserves that are supporting Doha’s project spending programme

“The government is committed to its investment programme in line with its Vision 2030 strategy,” says Al-Kuwari. “So there will be no change in major projects. A conservative budget in 2014 was based on an oil price of $67 a barrel. And  three to four years of strong budget surpluses allow the government to continue investing.”

Al-Kuwari said that government investent will drive economic growth in the coming years and sid that QNB’s forecasts for GDP growth in Qatar were:

• 6.5 per cent in 2014
• 7 per cent in 2015
• 7.5 per cent in 2016
• 7.9 per cent in 2017

“Most of the growth will be driven by non-hydrocarbon activity,” Al-Kuwari said.

Al-Kuwari said oil prices will recover gradually over the coming three years with Brent crude averaging of $56 a barrel in 2015, $64 a barrel in 2016 and $69 a barrel in 2017

The cost of producing oil shale, whose increase in production has drove the current oil glut that triggered a 45 per cent fall in oil prices from June 2014 to February 2015. over sinece June, is about $72 a barrel he said.