Proven gas reserves in excess of 900 trillion standard cubic feet ranks Qatar third in the world which, coupled with oil reserves of over 15 billion barrels, has produced one of the fastest growing and wealthiest (on a per capita basis) economies in the world.

There has been huge investment in recent times indeveloping the infrastructure to exploiting these gas reserves, with construction of LNG plants, gas-to-liquid facilities and a major gas export port at Ras Laffan in the country's north east. Qatar is now a major global supplier of energy.

Investment laws were recently eased to encourage foreign direct investment in Qatar in support of these energy-related projects, and to encourage diversification into other areas such as agriculture, manufacturing. leisure and tourism, health and education.

It is an open economy, with no restrictions on business or individuals transferring money in/out of the country. The official currency is the Qatar Riyal (QR) which is pegged to the US dollar at US$1 = QR3.65