Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani - File Photo
CAIRO - 23 August 2017: Unemployed Qatari youth shared a video clip on Tuesday on Twitter revealing Tamim’s lies regarding the stability of Qatar’s finance amid the Arab boycott of his regime over terror-related accusations.
“We all know that the country has gone through an economic crisis, but not to the extent that requires half of the youth to stay in their homes (jobless),” Qatari youth said. He stated that the level of unemployment has reached 30 percent in Qatar.
Qatar has faced economic challenges that kept worsening over June and July as the sea, land and air boycott influenced investors’ appetite and currency value.
According to the report published in al-Iqtisadi, a Saudi Arabian news website, the total number of employed persons in Qatar reached 1.88 million in the second quarter of 2017, dropping from 2 million in the first quarter of 2016.
The number of foreign workers in Qatar declined by about 6 percent coinciding with the increase in the food and beverage prices index by 4.5 percent in Qatar during July 2017.
Fifty-seven foreign workers leave Qatar per hour, which is considered the biggest quarterly decline from early 2016 until the end of the first half of 2017. This came following the Arab crisis with Qatar.
Egyptian members of parliament’s Arab affairs committee also stressed that the Arab’s boycotting trade with Qatar affects negatively Doha’s economy.
Mahmoud Al-Saidi, a member of parliament’s Arab affairs committee said that the Arab’s boycotting trade with Qatar affects negatively Doha’s economy and as a result it couldn’t pay the incomes of foreign workers, which led them to leave the country.
Ahmed Fouad Abaza, another member of parliament’s Arab affairs committee stated that “the flight of foreign workers from Qatar due to the lack of salaries is considered evidence of Qatar’s failure to solve the current economic crisis.”
Financial experts asserted that the economic crisis in Qatar has been reflected in the Qatari government's salaries. The huge economic losses and the inability of Iran and Turkey to compensate those losses have pushed a large proportion of foreign workers to leave.
They said these loses will reflect significantly on Qatar projects, especially the construction of the stadium in Doha in preparation for the World Cup in 2022.
Qatar’s investment is also deeply influenced. While Qatar is firm about overcoming the negative influence of the sanctions, with the central bank stating that it holds $340 billion in reserves that could help the Gulf country to weather the isolation, Saudi media reported that 388 Saudi companies operating in Qatar have exited the peninsular country.
International investors still have mixed views on Qatar. Reuter’s poll conducted in the last week of July showed that 23 percent of fund managers are looking to raise their equities in Qatar, but the same percentage expected to reduce their fund allocations for Doha.
Gulf funds were heavy net sellers of stocks in the Qatar Exchange over the past two months; meanwhile, non-Arab foreign investors have been net buyers of stocks, while Gulf investors have continued to cut holdings in Qatar, according to Reuters.
The world’s LNG largest exporter is still pursuing measures to offset negative impact of the sanctions imposed on it, resorting to filing complaints to the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the other side, the quartet is still holding onto their demands to ease crisis with Qatar.
Qatar’s relations with several Arab and Gulf states have been strained since May 24, when the Qatari state-run news agency reported Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s statements regarding Gulf foreign policy with Iran, describing it as “unwise.”
On June 5, 2017, several countries, including Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, severed diplomatic ties with Doha over accusations of Qatar backing and funding terrorist groups.
On June 23, 2017, the four Arab states have requested 13 demands from Qatar, which were presented by Kuwait, the mediator in the crisis. The demands included that Qatar shut down Al-Jazeera TV network, cut diplomatic ties with Iran, halt the financing and supporting of terror groups, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, and end Turkey's military presence in Doha.
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