ع
The Qatar Central Bank’s 2025 Annual Macroeconomic Review detailed how real GDP rose 2.9 percent last year even as the global environment presented challenges. Non-hydrocarbon GDP expanded at a faster 4.8 percent pace, a development the review attributed to broadening economic activity beyond energy production in line with long-term diversification goals. This shift has enlarged the base of sectors contributing to overall expansion and reinforced the economy’s capacity for sustainable growth, the central bank assessment found.
Inflation averaged just 0.5 percent across 2025 according to the review, with price increases confined largely to jewelry and a handful of related categories. Real estate prices held steady throughout the period, an outcome the QCB interpreted as evidence of orderly market conditions free of overheating risks. Such stability in consumer prices and asset values helped preserve macroeconomic equilibrium as activity continued to advance.
Tourism arrivals climbed to 5.1 million in 2025 from 4.9 million the previous year and 4.0 million in 2023, the central bank review reported, cementing Qatar’s emergence as a leading regional destination. At the same time the Purchasing Managers’ Index for the non-hydrocarbon private sector averaged 51.2, remaining comfortably above the 50-point expansion threshold for the full calendar year. These metrics together illustrated the broadening contribution of services and related industries to overall momentum.
Qatar recorded a current account surplus of QR116.2 billion, equivalent to 14.8 percent of GDP, during 2025, the QCB review showed, underscoring the strength of its external accounts. The Qatar Stock Exchange Index posted an annual gain of 1.8 percent, reflecting continued resilience in domestic capital markets even amid global volatility. A separate economic assessment published in April 2026 aligned with the central bank’s growth reading while noting parallel improvements in fiscal management.
Sovereign credit ratings stayed at AA from both S&P and Fitch and at Aa2 from Moody’s, all with stable outlooks, according to the review. These assessments from the three major agencies highlighted the robustness of Qatar’s fiscal and external positions as well as the soundness of its financial system. The QCB noted that such high ratings affirm the economy’s creditworthiness and support ongoing implementation of diversification policies under the national vision framework.
The review’s findings on financial markets and external balances were echoed in the central bank’s companion Financial Stability Review released earlier in 2026, which emphasised banking sector resilience. Private sector expansion, as captured in the PMI data, has played an increasingly visible role in job creation and investment across non-energy activities. Collectively the indicators presented in the July 2026 document portray an economy that closed the year on a stable footing with multiple drivers of growth.
