DUBAI: Qatar's economy grew 7.8 per cent at current prices in the fourth quarter to 83.2 billion riyals ($22.85bn), down from a more than 60pc surge in the third quarter, as energy prices slumped, official data showed.
Fourth-quarter nominal gross domestic product (GDP) for the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas rose from 77.2bn riyals in the same period last year, the Qatar Statistics Authority said. Qatar's economy expanded 44pc to 372.38bn riyals at current prices last year, when oil prices rallied to a record peak above $147 a barrel in July, the data showed.
But oil prices have slumped more than $100 a barrel since then as the global financial crisis brought to an end an economic boom in the Gulf region. Qatar's GDP on a quarterly basis fell 23.24bn in the fourth quarter from 108.39bn riyals in the third quarter.
The value of Qatar's mining and quarrying sector output, which includes oil and gas, fell 31.1pc quarter-on-quarter to 47.17bn riyals. Still, the gas sector expanded 62.9pc in the year to December 31 to 31.97bn riyals, while the value of the oil sector output fell 48pc to 13.16bn riyals over that period, the data showed.