Qatar's trade balance (the difference between total exports and imports) during the first quarter of this year achieved a surplus of 74.6 billion riyals ($20.46 billion), compared to the surplus of the trade balance for the first quarter of last year, which amounted to 39.9 billion riyals ($10.94 billion).
According to the Planning and Statistics Authority, the total value of Qatari exports (including exports of local goods and re-exports) during the first quarter of this year amounted to 103.8 billion riyals ($28.47 billion), an increase of 39.8 billion riyals ($10.92 billion), (62.2 percent), compared to the first quarter of 2021, which recorded total exports of 64 billion riyals, an increase of 3.8 billion riyals, or 3.8 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
The Planning and Statistics Authority attributed the main reason for the increase in total exports during the first quarter of this year (compared to the first quarter of 2021) to the increase in mineral fuel exports, and lubricants and similar materials, with a value of 35 billion riyals, or 65.5 percent, and chemicals and their products not mentioned, with a value of 3.4 billion riyals, or 57.1 percent, inedible raw materials, excluding fuel, amounted to 0.8 billion riyals, or 1013.4 percent, and manufactured goods classified mainly by material at a value of 0.6 billion riyals, or 30.2 percent, food and live animals with a value of 0.03 billion riyals, or 83.3 percent, while exports witnessed a decrease in machinery and transport equipment by 0.05 billion riyals, by 2.1 percent, and miscellaneous manufactures, by 0.01 billion riyals, by 2.2 percent.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
