Qatar’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced that the country’s budget for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 recorded a surplus of QAR2 billion ($549.2 million). However, the ministry stated that this surplus was directed towards reducing public debt, and therefore there was no cash surplus.
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The total budget revenues for Q1 2024 amounted to QAR53.4 billion ($14.66 billion), comprising QAR47.3 billion ($12.98 billion) from oil revenues and QAR6.1 billion ($1.67 billion) from non-oil revenues. This represents a 22.1 percent decrease compared to the same period the previous year.
The total expenditures in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to QAR51.4 billion. Of this, QAR16.3 billion was directed towards salaries and wages, and QAR18.8 billion was for current expenses. Secondary capital expenditures amounted to QAR1.4 billion, while major capital expenditures amounted to QAR14.6 billion, a 5 percent increase from the same period the previous year.
QCB issues T-Bills and Islamic sukuk
Earlier this month, the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) issued treasury bills and Islamic sukuk with various maturities amounting to a total of QAR2 billion ($549 million). The bank revealed that the issuance includes treasury bills and Islamic sukuk spanning maturities of one week, one month, three months, six months, and nine months.
The issuances include treasury bills with a one-week maturity worth QAR200 million at an interest rate of 5.7615 percent. The Qatar Central Bank also issued bills with a one-month maturity worth QAR500 million at an interest rate of 5.7991 percent.
In addition, the central bank issued bills worth QAR500 million for a period of three months at an interest rate of 5.8183 percent, and another QAR500 million with a six-month maturity at an interest rate of 5.7765 percent.
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