Qatars trade surplus up 38% in Q1

Mubasher: Qatar’s trade balance surplus surged 37.8% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2018, according to a report released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics on Monday.

The GCC nation's trade surplus amounted to QAR 43.1 billion in Q1-18, compared to QAR 31.3 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

Total exports of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter hiked 20.6% year-on-year to QAR 71.56 billion, according to the report.

Asian countries topped the list of Qatar’s export destinations acquiring 83.8% of the nation's total exports, followed by the European Union (EU) and GCC, which made up 9.1% and 2.2%, respectively.

Meanwhile, imports rose 1.3% to QAR 28.43 billion during the three-month period ended 31 March 2018, versus QAR 28.05 billion in the same period of the prior year.