Qatar's manufacturing sector is all geared up to challenge the shortages, particularly in personal hygiene and medical-related products, in view of the global pandemic Covid-19.
"The country has the rare finness to make a giant leap at a critical moment," an analyst said, noting the swift initiatives of Baladna in making Doha more than self sufficient in the dairy sector, after Qatar came under unjust economic blockade.
The flip side of the pandemic is that Qatar has readied itself in the manufacture of those personal hygiene and medical related products, a senior official of a bank said.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), in co-operation with the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), has a mechanism in place to avoid shortage of any essential items in Qatar in the coming period.
There have been reports that about five local entities are currently manufacturing disinfectants and sanitisers in order to meet the exponentially growing demand.
A Qatar-based sanitiser producer is learnt to have been taking steps to enhance production in view of the shortages expected.
"We have deployed alternate plans (to enhance production), if there is any sustained need, then another assembly line can also be established," a company source said.
There have also been reports of starting the domestic production of masks. As many as two or three factories would start manufacturing masks in Qatar, with the assistance from the QDB, the MoCI assistant undersecretary for Industry Affairs Mohamed Hassan al-Malki was earlier quoted by QNA as saying.
"The (financial) package (of QR75bn) can help in securing the needed working capital for those firms, which largely fall under small and medium enterprises (SME) tag," a market source said.
The capital support is more likely to be indirect in the form of soft loans and guarantees. The QDB already has Al Dhameen, a guarantee programme that allows startup and SMEs to obtain the financing they need from a list of participating banks to launch or grow their business.
At present, a major challenge is the shorter man-hours, which has been effected, keeping in view of general hygiene and the need to further reduce the risk of spreading the pandemic, a company source said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken note of Qatar’s targeted measures aimed at supporting the private sector in view of the Covid-19 crisis.
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