{
  "title": "Charting a New Course for Qatar’s Economic Diversification After the World Cup",
  "publication": "IMF News, July 22, 2024",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2024/07/22/cf-charting-a-new-course-for-qatars-economic-diversification-after-the-world-cup",
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  "summary": "A shift toward private sector-driven economic diversification requires ambitious reforms.",
  "authors": [
    "Ran Bi",
    "Ken Miyajima July"
  ],
  "publishDate": "2024-07-22",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Post‑World Cup economic gains and tourism",
      "content": "- Visitor arrivals in 2023 were nearly twice pre-pandemic levels.\n- Tourism this year reached new heights.\n- Hosting the World Cup boosted Qatar’s global profile and accelerated economic diversification into non-hydrocarbon sectors."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Role of public infrastructure investment in diversification",
      "content": "- Massive public infrastructure investment program since 2011 built ports, roads, metro, and airports.\n- The cost of stadiums represented only about 5 percent of the total infrastructure investment, by some estimates.\n- IMF analysis: the public investment program helped drive most of Qatar’s economic diversification over the past decade, contributing on average 5–6 percentage points annually to non-hydrocarbon real GDP growth.\n- The newly created infrastructure can be leveraged to generate new jobs, businesses, and opportunities in sectors beyond oil and gas."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Structural and institutional reforms implemented",
      "content": "- Enhanced labor protection for foreign workers, who account for about 95 percent of the labor force.\n- First Gulf Cooperation Council country to abolish Kafala, a sponsorship system for foreign workers that limits their mobility.\n- Initiatives to improve business efficiency and attract foreign direct investment.\n- Advanced digitalization efforts: ranked 16th among 198 countries in the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Remaining challenge: transition to private sector‑driven growth",
      "content": "- Key challenge: transitioning from public sector‑led growth to a more diversified, private sector‑driven model, as envisioned by Qatar’s National Vision 2030.\n- Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy (2024-30), launched in January 2024, sets strategic priorities aligned with IMF advice."
    },
    {
      "heading": "IMF analysis, simulations, and projected gains from reforms",
      "content": "- Reforms identified as likely to generate significant growth gains:\n  - Attract more skilled foreign workers.\n  - Ease access to financing for small and medium enterprises.\n  - Encourage competition and trade.\n- Simulations suggest that a comprehensive package of labor market and business environment reforms could boost annual non-hydrocarbon growth by close to 3 percentage points over the medium term.\n- To maximize gains, complementary reforms should be properly sequenced and consistent with the country’s capacity for implementation.\n- Continuing progress with digitalization and climate actions can generate new sources of growth and enhance sustainability.\n\nBy Ran Bi and Ken Miyajima; July 22, 2024 — IMF News\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- STAFF REPORT\n- QATAR AND THE IMF\n- QATAR'S TRANSFORMATION: FROM HYDROCARBON TO HIGHTECH\n- https://www.imf.org/en/News/country-focus\n- PRESS CENTER\n- IMF analysis\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2024/07/22/cf-charting-a-new-course-for-qatars-economic-diversification-after-the-world-cup"
    }
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    "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2024/07/22/cf-charting-a-new-course-for-qatars-economic-diversification-after-the-world-cup/index.md)",
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    "Authors: Ran Bi, Ken Miyajima July",
    "Published: July 22, 2024",
    "Visitor arrivals in 2023 were nearly twice pre-pandemic levels.",
    "Tourism this year reached new heights.",
    "Hosting the World Cup boosted Qatar’s global profile and accelerated economic diversification into non-hydrocarbon sectors.",
    "Massive public infrastructure investment program since 2011 built ports, roads, metro, and airports.",
    "The cost of stadiums represented only about 5 percent of the total infrastructure investment, by some estimates.",
    "IMF analysis: the public investment program helped drive most of Qatar’s economic diversification over the past decade, contributing on average 5–6 percentage points annually to non-hydrocarbon real GDP growth.",
    "The newly created infrastructure can be leveraged to generate new jobs, businesses, and opportunities in sectors beyond oil and gas.",
    "Enhanced labor protection for foreign workers, who account for about 95 percent of the labor force.",
    "First Gulf Cooperation Council country to abolish Kafala, a sponsorship system for foreign workers that limits their mobility.",
    "Initiatives to improve business efficiency and attract foreign direct investment.",
    "Advanced digitalization efforts: ranked 16th among 198 countries in the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index.",
    "Key challenge: transitioning from public sector‑led growth to a more diversified, private sector‑driven model, as envisioned by Qatar’s National Vision 2030.",
    "Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy (2024-30), launched in January 2024, sets strategic priorities aligned with IMF advice.",
    "Reforms identified as likely to generate significant growth gains:",
    "Simulations suggest that a comprehensive package of labor market and business environment reforms could boost annual non-hydrocarbon growth by close to 3 percentage points over the medium term.",
    "To maximize gains, complementary reforms should be properly sequenced and consistent with the country’s capacity for implementation.",
    "Continuing progress with digitalization and climate actions can generate new sources of growth and enhance sustainability.",
    "[STAFF REPORT](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2024/02/06/Qatar-2023-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-544471)",
    "[QATAR AND THE IMF](https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/QAT)",
    "[QATAR'S TRANSFORMATION: FROM HYDROCARBON TO HIGHTECH](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/selected-issues-papers/Issues/2024/02/21/From-HydroCarbon-to-Hightech-Mapping-the-Economic-Transformation-of-Qatar-545095)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/News/country-focus](https://www.imf.org/en/News/country-focus)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[IMF analysis](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2024/02/06/Qatar-Selected-Issues-544476)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
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