Qatar

Ruled by the Al-Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the Amir, who had ruled the country since 1972. His son, the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa Al-Thani, overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995. In 2001, Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. As of 2007, oil and natural gas revenues had enabled Qatar to attain the second-highest per capita income in the world.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Riyal (ISO code: QAR)
 * Central bank discount rate: 5.5% (31 December 2009)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 6.84% (31 December 2008)
 * Stock of money (M1): $14.59 billion (31 December 2009)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $44.5 billion (31 December 2009)

Links

 * Qatar on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of Qatar
 * Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
 * BBC country profile
 * We're Not Gonna Protest by Elizabeth Weingarten, March 2011