Covid-19 dealing a painful blow to Qatari economy

Mohamed Abdelghaffar

The Qatari Stock Market suffers because of the misguided policies of the regime as well as the crises befalling the international community.

The stock market ran into huge losses in 2019. Conditions continued to deteriorate through 2020.

Boycott

Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, offered unlimited support to Islamist groups in other Arab countries, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. This was especially true after the Arab Spring revolutions in these countries.

This support was behind the decision by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain to cut off diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar. This decision exacerbated the conditions of the stock market.

Companies enlisting their shares in the stock market sustained major losses in 2019, according to Stock Market statistics.

The shares of these companies lost 5.53% of their value in 2019, compared with the value of the same shares in 2018.

The profits of the 47 companies listed on the stock market amounted to $10.6 billion in 2019, compared with $11.22 billion in 2018.

Covid-19

The Covid-19 virus outbreak is costing the Qatari economy dearly, despite denials by the Qatari government. The losses are most manifest in the Qatari Stock Market.

The stock market lost 20.55% of its capital at the beginning of 2020. This made the stock market lose up to 2,000 points in about two months.

There is loss across all economic sectors. The insurance sector’s losses amounted to 26.74%, the industrial sector’s losses reached 29.33% and the real estate sector’s losses amounted to 2293.

The cargo and consumer goods sector ran into losses up to 22.55%, the communications sector made losses up to 17.14% and the financial services and banking sector made losses up to 10.8%.

International institutions expect, meanwhile, the growth of the Qatari economy to drop by 0.4% in 2020.