Doha – Mubasher: Qatar’s Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics has said that total exports reached QAR 19.7 billion in March, up 18.4% from figures recorded in the year-ago period, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
On the other hand, imports fell 9.6% year-on-year to QAR 9.8 billion last month, while the foreign merchandise trade balance saw an increase by 70.7% to QAR 9.9 billion in March 2017.
The trade balance represents the difference between total exports and imports.
Total exports increased on the back of higher exports of petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), condensates, propane, and butane, among others, reaching QAR 11.4 billion in March 2017.
Motor cars and other passenger vehicles topped the imports list with QAR 700 million, registering a 9.2% decline last month, compared to the same period of 2016, according to QNA.
In March, Japan topped the list of Qatar’s export destinations with QAR 3.7 billion, acquiring 18.7% of the Gulf country’s total exports, whereas US goods were the main imports for Qatar, reaching QAR 1.2 billion, or around 12.2% of the country’s imports.
