The share of manufacturing sector in Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to double in the coming years, offering tremendous scope for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are critical for the country’s diversification, according to Doha Bank.
R Seetharaman
Various incentives announced by the Ministry of Industry have been quite instrumental in accelerating industrial development in the country as SME industries are mushrooming, Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman said.
“Qatar’s strategic economic diversification drive is bearing fruit as the share of the manufacturing sector (through SMEs) in the country’s GDP is growing faster than expected and is set to double in the coming years,” he said.
The SME business will also witness increasing utilisation of technology such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management implementation as well as video conferencing and mobile data, which will provide new challenges/ opportunities for software companies, telecoms and banks.
Despite the success of a relatively handful of companies such as iHorizons, Seetharaman said the sector is considered weak as fewer than 40% of the existing small and medium manufacturing enterprises were established after 2000.
The SME sector constitutes about 15% of the economy, with most firms focused on the domestic economy.
