Qatar Economy Demonstrates Strong Resilience, Diversification in 2025: QCB

Qatar’s economy demonstrated strong resilience and continued diversification in 2025, with robust performance across key sectors despite a challenging global economic environment, according to the Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) 2025 annual macroeconomic review.

The review highlights sustained economic stability, contained inflation, strengthening tourism activity, continued expansion of the private sector and a solid external position, reinforcing Qatar’s ability to navigate global challenges while advancing its long-term economic diversification agenda.

Qatar’s real GDP grew by 2.9 percent in 2025, while non-hydrocarbon GDP expanded by 4.8 percent, underlining the increasing contribution of non-energy sectors to overall economic activity. The performance highlights the progress being made towards the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030, particularly its focus on building a diversified and knowledge-based economy.

Price stability remained a key strength of the Qatari economy during the year. Inflation averaged just 0.5 percent in 2025, with price pressures largely confined to selected categories, including jewellery and related items.

The low and stable inflation environment provides a supportive backdrop for households and businesses and reflects the broader macroeconomic stability maintained by Qatar during the year.

Tourism emerged as another major driver of economic activity. Visitor arrivals reached 5.1 million in 2025, up from 4.9 million in 2024 and 4 million in 2023.

The continued increase in visitor numbers underscores Qatar’s growing appeal as a regional tourism destination and highlights the contribution of tourism-related activities to economic diversification.

The sustained expansion also reflects the country’s efforts to develop its hospitality, leisure, cultural and business tourism sectors and strengthen its position as an international destination.

The country’s private sector also maintained positive momentum during 2025. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) averaged 51.2, remaining comfortably above the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction.

The reading indicates continued improvement in private-sector business conditions and provides further evidence of the increasing role of non-hydrocarbon activities in supporting Qatar’s economic growth.

Qatar continued to maintain a healthy external position during the year, recording a current account surplus of QR116.2 billion, equivalent to 14.8 percent of GDP.

The sizeable surplus underlines the strength of Qatar’s external accounts and provides an important source of resilience against potential shifts in the global economic environment.

Qatar’s financial markets also demonstrated resilience in 2025. The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Index recorded an annual gain of 1.8 percent, reflecting positive performance despite continuing volatility in international markets.

The performance of the domestic equity market, together with developments in the country’s broader capital markets, points to continued investor confidence and the growing depth of Qatar’s financial sector.

The country also continued to deepen its capital markets through the introduction of new sustainable and Shariah-compliant instruments. Among the notable developments was the listing on the QSE of the first ESG-aligned bond and a corporate Islamic sukuk, supporting the development of diversified financing channels and sustainable investment opportunities.

Qatar also retained strong sovereign credit ratings during 2025, reflecting the country’s robust macroeconomic fundamentals and financial strength.

The review noted that Qatar maintained AA ratings from S&P and Fitch and Aa2 from Moody’s, with stable outlooks from all three international rating agencies.

The stable outlooks across the three major agencies underline continued confidence in Qatar’s economic and fiscal fundamentals and its ability to maintain financial stability.

Taken together, the indicators presented in the QCB review point to an economy that is becoming increasingly diversified while retaining strong external and financial buffers.

The 4.8 percent expansion in non-hydrocarbon GDP, rising tourism activity, continued private-sector expansion and development of capital markets demonstrate the growing breadth of economic activity beyond the traditional hydrocarbon sector.

At the same time, low inflation, a substantial current account surplus and strong sovereign credit ratings provide a stable macroeconomic foundation for continued investment and growth.

The QCB said the review showcases the strong performance of the national economy, continued momentum of economic diversification and robustness of key macroeconomic indicators. It also reaffirms Qatar’s economic resilience and its ability to withstand challenges while sustaining economic stability.

Overall, the 2025 performance provides a positive picture of Qatar’s economic trajectory, with growth increasingly supported by a broader range of sectors and strengthened by sound macroeconomic fundamentals.