Qatar Country Report 2022 - BTI Transformation Index

During the period under review (February 2021 to January 2023), developments in Qatar were dominated by the aftermath of the Gulf crisis, the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

The al-Ula agreement of January 5, 2021 reestablished societal, diplomatic and economic relations among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, although tensions sometimes resurface, especially between Qatar and the UAE. With Bahrain, the rapprochement has been particularly slow. Meanwhile, Qatar further pursued autonomy and diversification of trade partners, food, water, capital goods and hydrocarbon exports, as outlined in its National Development Strategy (NDS) for 2018 to 2022. Self-reliance in food production, formerly almost completely import-dependent, is an ongoing goal with considerable success, especially in dairy and vegetable production. Progress in environmental protection and sustainability was put on the backburner, however.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup was a mixed blessing for Qatar. While it had the opportunity to present itself and make its state-of-the-art infrastructure and technological standards known, the spotlight shone on the country often led to severe international criticism perceived by many Qataris as unfair and hypocritical. All major building and infrastructure projects in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup were completed before the event, including a network of roads, railways, underground metro and a light rail line. These were built by foreign workers under conditions often described as “modern-day slavery.” Qatar had already enacted some improvements to the disputed Kafala system. Under the World Cup spotlight, more reforms followed, such as restricted working hours in summer and the region’s first nondiscriminatory minimum wage. However, criticism of insufficient human rights protections continued. Qatar’s image was further tarnished by the “Qatargate” corruption scandal, when EU parliament members were accused in late 2022 of being bribed by Qatari officials.

Domestically, the Gulf crisis catalyzed the development of a national identity and solidarity. This sense of unity persisted during the pandemic and was further strengthened in response to intense foreign criticism during the World Cup.

A major milestone was achieved in October 2021 when Qatar held its very first legislative elections for two-thirds of the Advisory Council (Shura). Although these elections did not mark a major step toward democratization, they nonetheless bolstered the credibility and legitimacy of Emir Tamim and indicated a shift toward parliamentarization. The elections also sparked the first significant protests since 2011 against the restrictive election law, leading the regime to harshly punish some protesters with long prison sentences. This leaves no doubt that political change will be top-down, not bottom-up.

While the government remains committed to economic and social modernization as outlined in the National Vision 2030, some setbacks resulted from the blockade and COVID-19. The pandemic allowed Emir Tamim to once again postpone the introduction of the value-added tax (VAT), which was originally planned for 2018 under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) framework agreement in February 2017. While the education system in Qatar is still well-resourced, the relatively slow progress of improvements has allowed other countries, including GCC neighbors, to surpass Qatar in international rankings. Additionally, Russia’s war against Ukraine significantly increased revenues from fossil resources and also improved Qatar’s status among governments that were previously its harshest critics.