Qatar announced a surplus of $7.9 billion (QAR 28.8 billion) for the 2023 budget, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported Monday, citing Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, the country's minister of finance.
The country reported an estimated revenue of $62.6 billion (QR 228 billion), a 16.3% increase compared to the 2022 estimates.
Al Kuwari attributed the increase in public revenues to the adoption of an average oil price of $65 per barrel for 2023 instead of $55 per barrel in the 2022 budget, due to the recovery in global energy prices.
The Gulf state's oil and gas revenues are estimated at $51 billion (QR 186 billion) for next year's budget, marking a 20.8% increase from $42.3 billion (QR 154 billion) in 2022, the finance minister said. The estimates of non-oil revenues for 2023 are kept constant, compared to the 2022 budget, at $11.5 billion (QR 42 billion.)
Expenditure estimates reached $54.7 billion (QR 199 billion) for the 2023 fiscal year, a decline of 2.6% from 2022.
The allocations for salaries and wages in the 2023 budget grew by 6.3% year-on-year to reach $17.2 billion (QR 62.5 billion), while allocations for major projects next year decreased by 13.6% to reach $17.6 billion (QR 63.9 billion.)
Some $5.8 million (QR 21.1 billion) has been allocated to the health sector, comprising about 11% of the total expenditures, and another $4.97 million (QR 18.1 billion) was allotted to the education sector, 9% of the total expenditures.
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani approved Monday the state's general budget for the fiscal year 2023, which will be effective as of January 1, 2023.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in August projected Qatar's budget surplus to grow 57.6% in 2023 to $19.3 billion (QAR 70.3 billion), compared to the $12.2 billion (QAR 44.6 billion) forecast for 2022.
Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, said that Qatar has managed, in the past two years, to face the COVID-19 crisis and accelerate economic development, and benefited from the FIFA World Cup 2022.
