Qatar has overcome the blockade by some Arab countries through sound economic policies, a monetary policy expert said yesterday.
“The blockade is an economic war as they wanted to destabilise Qatar financially,” explained Dr Khalid Rashed al-Khater.
He was addressing “2017 Gulf Crisis, Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives,” a symposium organised by Arab Centre for Research & Policy Studies (ACRPS) at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
“There was a conspiracy by the blockading countries to destabilise Qatari riyal which would have led to more capital outflow requiring the government to step in and support the currency to stabilise,” he said.
“If the currency loses the value, it can lead to inflation and then the prices of essential commodities will go up. This could  create pressure on the government,” noted al-Khater.
“However, there was no way to reduce the value of the currency as the economic fundamentals of Qatar are very robust. There was an attempt to destabilise the currency overseas but it could not succeed as the supply of Qatari riyal in the overseas market is limited.”
“The calm and calculated steps by Qatar was able to make the world understand that the country is able to withstand any such siege. Moreover the sound investment policy of Qatar has diversified its investment in several geographical locations around the world providing robust growth  for the country,” continued the expert.
According to him, withstanding the evil attempts of the blockading countries, Qatar has been able to overcome the crisis by wisely collaborating with its friends and providing necessary goods for the people of the country. 
“Even if the blockading countries withdraw all their investment in Qatar it will not have any impact on the country as it is very minimal,” he added.
Al-Khater also pointed out that the universities and research centres in the country should involve strengthening the human capital in the country. 
“If you want to develop successful economic diversification in the country, you need to develop more human capital. There should be more incentive for the youth to pursue higher education and the returns of education should be greater than what it is today,” he added.
Mohamed al-Khulaifi, dean, Faculty of Law, Qatar University (QU) as well as Majed al-Ansari, a political strategist from QU also spoke at the event which was moderated by Sheikh Suhaim al-Thani from ACRPS. 

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