DOHA: Minister of Finance HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari announced that the total revenues expected in the general budget of Qatar for the fiscal year 2024, issued by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani earlier on Wednesday, amounts to QR202.0 billion, an 11.4 percentdecrease compared to the 2023 budget total revenues estimates.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance attributed the decrease in revenues basically to the adoption of an average oil price of $60 per barrel for 2024 instead of $65 per barrel in 2023, based on the international institutions estimates for oil prices in 2024, and the conservative estimates for oil and gas revenues.
The Minister of Finance explained that estimates of total oil and gas revenues for 2024 amount to QR159.0 billion, compared to QR186.0 billion in 2023, a 14.5 percentdecrease; indicating that the estimates of non-oil revenues for 2024 amounts to QR43.0 billion, an increase of approximately 2.4 percentcompared to the budget for the fiscal year 2023.
The minister added that expenditures in the fiscal year 2024 budget see an increase by 1.0 percentfrom 2023 to reach QR200.9 billion, due to a rise in the allocations for salaries and wages increased in the 2024 budget by QR1.5 billion, a 2.4 percentincrease from 2023 to reach QR64 billion.
Allocations for both current expenditures and secondary capital expenditures also increased by 6.4 percentand 27.5 percentrespectively, compared to 2023. The major capital expenditures budget decreased by nearly 8.3 percentcompared to the 2023 budget given the completion of many vital economic projects and projects related to the infrastructure plan.
The Minister of Finance affirmed that the general budget continues to focus on achieving the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030 related to the development of human capital by focusing on the health and education sectors - allocations for the two sectors constitute 20 percentof the total budget - in addition to the goals related to diversifying the local economy and enhancing its competitiveness - allocations for the communications and information technology sector have been doubled compared to 2023.
Minister Al Kuwari noted the State's commitment to pay the equivalent of approximately QR7.3 billion of public debt dues in 2024, which makes the cash deficit for 2024 at the above-mentioned oil price ($60 per barrel) estimated at QR6.2 billion. This can be covered by the surplus of the year 2023 in addition to using domestic and external debt instruments as needed.