DOHA (The Thursday Times) — Qatar’s state budget ran a deficit of QR22.8 billion, about $6.3 billion, in the third quarter of 2026, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday, as oil revenue fell to a quarter of its level a year earlier.
Total revenue for July to September came to about QR17.1 billion, the ministry said in a statement on its official X account. Oil revenue was QR10.75 billion and non-oil revenue QR6.33 billion. Spending reached about QR39.9 billion, including QR16.86 billion on salaries and wages, QR15.44 billion on current expenditure, and QR6.88 billion on major capital projects.
In the same quarter of 2025, the ministry reported revenue of about QR49.2 billion, of which QR43.4 billion came from oil, and a deficit of QR1.4 billion. On those figures, oil revenue has fallen by about 75% and total revenue by about 65% in a year, while spending is down by about a fifth.
The gap is the widest so far this year. Qatar posted a deficit of QR10.3 billion in the first quarter and QR21.2 billion in the second, which brings the shortfall for the first nine months to about QR54.3 billion. The 2026 budget had planned for a deficit of QR21.8 billion for the whole year.
The war’s toll on gas
QatarEnergy halted liquefied natural gas production at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed in March after Iranian attacks on the country’s energy facilities, and declared force majeure on some contracts. Its exports depend on the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been disrupted for most of the year.
The disruption has reached buyers around the world. Poland’s Orlen cancelled its long-term contract this week, and a Qatari LNG carrier, the Al Mayeda, was struck by unidentified objects in the Gulf on November 1.
Pakistan, which relies on Qatar for most of its imported LNG, has felt it directly. QatarEnergy has stopped deliveries to some Pakistani buyers until the end of the year, and Doha has offered to reprice its deals with Pakistan with fewer cargoes.
Not every Gulf producer is in the red. Oman, whose gas exports do not pass through Hormuz, reported a budget surplus for the first nine months on Thursday. A trade credit insurer estimated this week that the Iran war will cost Gulf economies $790 billion by 2030.
