Qatar’s foreign trade surplus increased 2% y/y to QAR 32.15bn (USD 8.9bn) in June 2013, quickening from a 0.5% rise a month earlier as exports growth strengthened while that of imports slowed, data from the stats office showed. Total exports (including re-exports) rose 2.4% y/y to QAR 39.77bn in June and imports grew 4.1% (up 7.3% in May) to QAR 7.62bn.
Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons exports edged down 0.3% y/y to QAR 25.72bn (64% of total sales) in June. Petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals exports rose 9.6% y/y to QAR 7.12bn.
The main export markets were Japan with a share of 28% of the total, followed by South Korea and India with 18% and 11%, respectively.
Motor cars and other passenger vehicles and aircraft spare parts remained the main imported products in June. The US was the main import market (13% of the total), followed by China and the UAE with 11% and 8% respectively.
Qatar's current account (CA) surplus expanded 32% y/y to QAR 71.3bn in January-March 2013 mainly on rising trade surplus which helped offset falling services and other components income. The CA surplus accounted for roughly 38.5% of the full-year GDP forecast.
The IMF forecast 29.3% of GDP current account surplus in 2013.
Related Articles
Egypt brings new gas well online with 10mn cubic feet/day output
Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is finalising procedures to bring a new natural gas well, North El-Basant-1, into production with an expected output of around 10mn cubic feet ... more
Tunisia kicks off stalled expansion of solar projects with 1.3GW capacity push
Tunisia is finally accelerating the deployment of its large-scale photovoltaic (PV) sector after years of slow progress, with construction now underway across multiple major projects, PV-Magazine ... more
Shell and Petronas seek 20% gas price increase for Egypt’s West Delta marine phase
UK energy major Shell (LON:SHEL) and Malaysia's national oil and gas company Petronas have asked the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to raise the gas price for the upcoming Phase 12 ... more