World Recession? Has Qatar been affected?

Philippines is also exporting some goods to USA and other countries but exchange rate of US$ to Peso is changing unlike Qatar riyal's fixed exchange rate of 3.65 per US$ whatever the monetary value of US$ in world's market.

If a third world country like Philippines can unpegged from US$, is it not possible for Qatar too.

Visit Filipino Expats Eye on the Web

Amazing u don't know y QAR is pegged with US$;

Oil and other petro related products could be exported out of the Gulf at cheap rates to US and other European countries. Secondly, US is super power; None of these countries have guts to remove this peg even at this stage and everybody is very well aware of US$ depreciated by over 20%. Kuwait has recently unpegged to US$.

You can't teach experience...

Why Qatar Riyal is pegged with US dollar? I think that will be the first reason of recession in Qatar. Oil price is now becoming low too. We know that this is the main source of income of Qatar

Visit Filipino Expats Eye on the Web

You can't teach experience...

Saying that though Vegas.

I also see too many people who join the company, and within a week take out a stupid loan, before they are even half way through their probation period. It's kinda swings and roundabouts really.

I do think that banks should tighten the reigns slightly on dishing out loans. Make it a bit harder for people to get them, some different qualification level, rather than just "Wow, you have blood in your veins and you are under 60!!! Have Some Cash!!!"

____________________________

I seen too many people that are stuck here with a car loan or personal loan. They won't let you leave the country if your in default because of job loss. And then they won't let you renew your visa or even get another job...In other words...Your screwed...

You can't teach experience...

some was mentioning that it happend before so if we learnt any thing from our incidence that happend in 1930 called great depression that cause bancrupcy of Bank New York of America and when the chain reaction spread over the world huge number of banks rundown and about 1.4 million peaple in various industries lost thier jobs, heavy industry was badly effeced it took some 9 years to recover and then world war started till today no body exactly knows what happend...

As a fact of the matter is you have already seen car manufacturers getting troubale real estate related industries such as furniture business is badly effected during last month some of them are even reported 40% decline in thier sales and if coming 6 months situation doesnt brought under control you will see huge numbers of mergers and running down happening including this region.

So please dont make lengthy investment plans just wait and see.

we control every thing,(this is our business)

i definitely think Qatar is affected by the Financial turmoil. since the demand for oil decreased, oil dropped down to a 3.5 year low below $50/barrel. Imagine that, just a few months ago, oil prices are almost $150/barrel!

QS is right. this won't be permanent.

cheers,

paul

com'om aviduser.. with all my respect.. please,, don;t be so pessimistic...

Qatar will survive, Gulf wil survive, whole world will survive... it's not the first Recession in the human history... This is rather a rule of the world economy development ..economy should go through the recession before it jumps up to the next higher level..it is law. there is no any oter way.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA47508

Very interesting

Is spot on with his comments here, the lack of transparency here and Dubai is one of the main reasons the DSM has fallen so much. Nearly all the foreign capital invested in these markets has been withdrawn. Obviously this is also due to the fact that investors all over the World have had a dash for cash.

AS for this reason, I think we may have seen the end of the boom times for quite a while, the Dubai property market is just about to crater and many people will be burnt, although many people DID make a tonne of money those days are over. Property as an asset class is finished here and Dubai.

I am sure that the banks here are going to be sitting on huge piles of bad loans, many will have to written off as I imagine many many locals have taken loans and invested in the markets both here and abroad. None of that money is going to be coming back anytime soon. It's gone.

Also I imagine that many of the projects planned for the City will fail to materialise, they will be slowly wound down and forgotten about.

The Government here I think should take some responsibility, the papers are full of good news stories about the booming economy, this has encourage a reckless sense that anyone can get rich quick, so then people take out loans to build compounds, apartments and hotels for people who are never going to materialise, I think much like Dubai that they were hoping the Country could achieve critical mass before too many people realised that the propaganda was just that.

Now many people who have invested heavily are going to be very unhappy, but, luckily for the Emir he probably has just enough money to bail out most people. Hence the capital injection into the banks.

It's easy to look back on this and say I saw it coming, I must admit when I arrived here I was swept along by the stories of massive gas reserves booming GDP etc, I read the papers and took what they said as fact.

It was only after being here for a couple of years did I have that paradigm shift, I was being lied to, the evidence was all around me, then the figures in the papers became lees opaque, they just didn't square with the reality around me.

Where were the tourists, where were the new businesses, where was all this foreign direct investment, where were all the rich ex-pats. All I could see was a few new towers, where was the 21st century progress ?

And now it's over. Oil will eventually recover, the Country won't go broke, but we won't be reading about this region as a boom town gold rush area for many many years to come.

lol Britexpat your hilarious..

You and my husband would surely get on. He makes me laugh too. :)

I know how you feel.. I used to have a Moggie Minor convertible too..

My first car was very similar to a corvette convertable. shiny red with grey leather interior. A real beauty of a car. Had to get special instruction to drive it and thought I was the bees knees.

Now I'm in my husbands 1600 QR a month rent a car that he refuses to clean. How life changes so drastically is beyond me. But the trade was worth it InshAllah.

Auto dealers are going out of business left and right...

The plus is I will be able to get a 2006 corvette convertable with less than 10k miles on it for around 35K usd :)

You can't teach experience...

One of the more recent changes made by banks is a new rule that prevents anyone with outstanding loans from taking out further loans. As I understand it, until you pay back 50% or more of your loan back, you are not able to seek further credit.

And like you say, it isn't as though people took loans to buy businesses or make strategic investments. Most of loans are parked in the Villagio carpark, or being spent on hookers in Bahrain.

It's only a matter of time before ratings agencies start to look at the amount of loans that GCC banks have on their books and look at what they're tied up in, before realising that the banks are not well provisioned for an economic downturn as is happening in Dubai.

We could concievably find ourselves in a position where rents actually start to rise as landlords seek to try to cover their debt obligations.

I think the moral of the story is that if you want to get a car loan, you should do it quickly because banks are going to start becoming much more wary about who they loan money to.

I am not a fin expert too, from what I read and understood..

Experts calls for - No loans , No investments at presnt.

They advice to even dispose properties you invested if you get good price and keep the fund as liquid cash untill things settles down.

If the scenario lasts till 2011 as expected.. interest rates will shoot up untill and unless the inflation is braught back to single digit.

______________________________________________

Live,

Let Live,

& Help Live..

@rmani

try commonwealth bank of australia

www.cba.com.au great rates

not really tallg.. i will close it with the highest interest that i can find, let's say 4.5% So i will be paying only 1.5 % eventually. let's assume i left money invested at the same place. So when in 4 years the loan is paid off, i will get 4.5 % pure interest. So for the next 4 years consider it as 3% (coz I paid 1.5% for 4 years, and now i return it back). it's already not too bad. starting from the 9-th year it will be pure 4.5%. (Interest might change with the time depends on different circumstances, but the idea is the same). I didn't work a minute to earn this money. And I have all of it with the interest. ok, let's say it will be addition to my pension plan for the future. what's wrong with it? again, you didn't work a second for this money. You just got it and saved it.

1.and if during the first 4 years, at some point you do need this money for your use,and you withdraw it from your savings, that's fine.. you paid for it 1.5% so far, and now after withdrwaing you still will pay only 6%, as soon as all banks around by that time returned to their traditional 9-10% on the new loans. how is that?

2. and if during this time you find better place to invest, fine, you gain more...

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

QIA is buying additional stocks upto 20% of local banks just to ease thier liquidity, but its not going to help in longer term coz the banks's who adopted predatory financing activities such as giving 80 to 85 times salary as personal loans just for life style knowing that the proceeds will not be utilised in money making acitivities on the contrary some nice luxury vehicles and round trips to the world will be the purpose of those loan on the other hand the person will be paying upto 75% of his salary as loan installment, dont expect him to keep paying for loan that is what exactly going to fire back coz as the different industries are going to sledge down the jobs the number of default increase specially for the banks who had NPL ratio of over 4%.

As a result the QCB is going to put heavy provisions for NPB further eating up thier liquidity and when you are talking about the corporate finance the impact is higher.

One of the guys are talking about higher deposit rates if you dont know all the banks have increased thier interest rates on existing loans and whatever deposit rates you are getting are not guaranteed on longer term.

Just wait and see and dont try to encash the situation

QS - but remember you start paying 6% as soon as you take the loan. If you don't do anything with the money for a year say then you're 6% down straight away.

rami leb are you sure your a novice lol

Where are you from again mate?

QS I would suggest that if you can borrow money at 6% it would be a good idea to use it to pay down outstanding debts that are accruing interest at higher rates, like credit card debt, for instance.

I for one still think it's far too early to see good buys on the major stock exchanges.

I'm in agreement with Vegas, we haven't found the bottom of the market yet, and if oil starts to fall more, that's a really, really bad sign for the Qatari and other OPEC economies.

To get back to the original question, there are more and more signs that problems are emerging in Qatar's real economy.

You only need to take a look around Doha to see an increasing number of abandoned building sites. And it's not just 5-10 storey towers where work has stopped due to lack of finance, but some of the huge towers near City Center too. Take a look at the number of building sites with no cranes and no workmen. It's a really worrying sign.

More worrying is the fact that QIA is buying up 20% of shares in local banks. Not only did the local newspapers not give any explanation as to why this was the case, but I recall reading one article that tried to put a positive spin on it. When government money is bailing out the domestic banking sector to buy 20% of a bank's stock, you have to start getting really, really worried. Clearly there are emerging liquidity concerns.

Since there is basically no transparency in this economy and no reliable data collected concerning consumer sentiment, business sentiment, personal savings ratios, or basically any other economic indicator, it's not surprising some people here seem to think that there will be 'no impact' whatsoever on the Qatari economy by the global financial crisis.

There won't be a recession here (in the true technical sense) but there is going to be a sharp slowdown, and you will feel it.

tallg, it's also kind of temptation of getting something cheaper than usually. that's it. if i know that usually the interest on the loan is about 9%, and I am offered the loan with 6%, so me thinking just go and grab it.. you will think later what to do with this money. There is no chance that you never gonna need it, or you will never find a good place to invest them with the profit that covers the cost of borowing.. and when later banks will get back to their 9%, you will feel more than happy that you got it for 6%.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

without pains no gains....like higher the risk higher the profits....banks have to enter the into the financial risk business to make profits...this are general rules.

You can't teach experience...

Ok, I think perhaps I follow you. So you're gambling on the fact that at some point in the future you'll be able to invest this money in something that gives you a big enough return to cover the amount of interest you've paid on the loan up to that point, plus extra to make it worthwhile.

Sounds like a big gamble to me.

In the example you give, the cost of borrowing is higher than the rate of return. This gap will only continue to widen, as you say above.

Also, not all loans are a fixed interest rate, but many investments are. So you may find yourself in a position where the return on your investment is stuck at 5% until it matures, but the interest charged on the loan may rise to 10% over the same time.

I would just caution you away from such a risky approach to investing money. Like Tallg, I don't fully understand why you would want to get yourself into debt to invest at a loss, with the expectation that you will hopefully make money into the future. If it was me (and I have to admit I'm a very conservative and risk-averse person where things like this are concerned) I wouldn't consider it, but I'm the first to admit I don't have a total grasp on economics and the money markets.

rami-leb! that's what i am talking about! "the cost of borrowing continuing to rise sharply, and the rate of return offered by mainstream financial istitutions dropping to record lows.".. thaht's why i want to "borrow" with the low interest and to "return" it witht the highest possible ineterst..

and also that's what i keep asking: why they all of a sudden offer to "borrow" money with the low interest? shouldn't they opposit to raise it???

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A friend of mine took out a student loan (fantastic interest rates on those babies) And her dad invested it in the stock market. Made a bundle from it too.

As tallg mentioned its a moral thing for me. Interest is the reason we are in this financial mess to begin with.

But I wouldn't fret too much Qatarisun.. you have cash which is a great commodity in this climate. And anyone who has cash is going to make a killing.

tallg, i will use them, but a bit later, when the situation is more or less clear.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Good advice rami-leb

i know.. that's why i keep checking them, PH

it's like when i took some course at some private college in Toronto, government student loan with the low interest was offered. I had enough cash to pay for the course, but i got this loan and paid it off absolutely "painless", and i still kept my cash in full. This is the same situation. I know very well, that the low-interest loans are always winning.. no doubts. It might not be winning in the beginning, but in the long terms it is.

why do you think qataris take the loans to build properties? not because they don't have cash. Becouse it is much more profitable at the end of the day.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Global interest rates are falling in almost all major financial markets - US, Eurozone, Asian economies etc. In effect they will fall below zero once inflation is accounted for.

Any bank offering you 10% with a guarentee would make me suspicious.

Also, your scheme seems like a good idea at first, but it relies on the assumption that the return you can get on the investment will rise, and the cost of borrowing will stay low.

If I had to guess, I would be more likely to assume that over the coming 12 months we will see the cost of borrowing continuing to rise sharply, and the rate of return offered by mainstream financial istitutions dropping to record lows.

But that's just my guess.

I put some money into a 90 day term deposiy at 7.25%, but by the time that matures I will be lucky to get anything more than 5% at the same bank.

I'm not a financial expert, but I don't you should take out a loan if you don't need the money. Regardless of whether the interest rate is low and you can offset some of this interest by putting it in on offshore account, you are still paying for money you're not using, which makes no sense (to me at least).

Qatarisun .. be careful of offshore banking fraud as well.

ok guys.. again, if you know where i can invest it with 10% guaranteed right now, pls let me know.. i am afraid on investing cash into anything right now.. i just want to keep it. And then when in few months the same loan will be offered with 11% interest, i will be upset why i didn't get it with 7.3 that's it.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

LOL tallg that got me too..

Qatarisun your an intelligent lady who I am sure can do the math.

Just keep in mind the

-bank fees

-tax benefits

-privacy

p.s. it is perfectly legal to do so. Also you might want to look into insurance policies ;)

p.s.s. as a fundamentalist I do not condone riba (interest of any kind) I do not take it nor do I deal with it. End of disclaimer.

no.. actually that's not what i exactly mean ..it's not a target. I thought since the interest is low now, just to grab this loan, to keep it in some bank with the highest ineterst I can find, until i find some good place to invest it. that's it. But if you know where i invest it safely with at least 10% interest right away, pls let me know.. in today's situation you have no idea what's going on and how bad it will become.. so just to keep this money till the situation is more or less clear.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

suggest which are the milking industry at this crisis time......

The interest rate on a term deposit needs to be high enough to also account for the rise in the cost of living over the period.

For instance if you invest cash at 5% and your cost of living rose by 6% over the same period, then you've effectively lost money.

Like Tallg I'm a bit confused why you'd take the loan at 7.3% for a 5% return. Perhaps if it was the other way around it might make some sense. Or am I missing something really obvious?

I'm confused QS. You're going to take a loan at 7.3% and invest it at 5%?

Maybe I just lock in a CD...

You can't teach experience...

PH, i am planning to find soem off shor bank with the highest interest i can find, get the loan, and make a term deposit into this off shore bank. Even if the result between the interest on my loan and the interest in the off shore bank will be negative, it's still ok on the long-term investment.

let's say I take a loan with the 7.3% interest

and i close it in the off shore bank with 5% interest. It still will be all right. It's like I am paying only 2.3% interest on the loan. And I still have the whole amount.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

mm QatariSun whats the interest rate being offered to you? And what is the banks country of orgin?

Yep.. nothing like a fresh cup of milk to keep my knockers looking healthy Vegas ;).

You can't teach experience...

thanks, PH.. that's what i also thought about, and the interest is low enough.. do you think it might go even lower next month or so?

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

QatariSun wait till the interest is lower. Then invest in some stocks/commodities in about a year when many reach absolute rock bottom.

Personally I'm thinking of investing in the milking industry at the moment.

Yes but the good thing is because oil will always be in demand and the banking system has falls and gains about every 10 years or so. I believe the GCC countries can hard ride this one out with a bit of perseverance and common sense.

Now the US on other hand is going to be screwed unless they help out the car and other major export industries. And soon!

The downfall can be felt over the rest of the world and other companies will fall but politically backed industries will take the lead once the smoke clears out.

aviduser! my bank keeps offering me the loan with the low interest..they call me literally every day... what does it mean? should I take it? is there some hidden issues that might be discovered later?

thanks.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

You can't teach experience...

Bad is still to come.....GCC will have impact of global slowdown, the impact will start with real estate, airlines, hotels, automobile, tourism and banks......wait and watch in next 3 months, when Annual financial results will be out and disclosed to public comparing vis a vis to prior years profits.

Lets see where Qatar GDP and growth rate stands now after the credit crunch; where Qatar stands out as one of the best in the World.

Keep your fingures cross....

The effect on Oil rich ones will be slower.. Qatar is suffering on the funds invested in the stocks abroad.

Dubai is hit already, Damac cuts 200 jobs yestrday.. 60% of the projects are on hold...

Real estate and stocks are effected globally, Qatar will be no excemption.

Read an analysis which forecasts this will last till 2011 too..

______________________________________________

Live,

Let Live,

& Help Live..

Hey avid. I though you'd comment on this sooner or later.

What I found surprising (well, not really surprising I guess) is that in the English papers at least, when they reported the 20% investment in the banks they literally just said that the investment had been made, and offered no explanation as to why it was done and what the consequences would be.

You are going to see bad company results in the press you have another thing coming.

This Country is and will be directly affected by the slow down, the papers say other wise, but then they said the banks were well capitalised and then the Emir had to step in and give them 20% THAT WE KNOW ABOUT.

The problem here is we will never find out just how bad the finances of these companies are. There is simply no transparency.

Also any one own a Pearl property, what do u think it's worth now ? Do you think you could sell it ?

Gas is linked to the Oil price, and remember gas is sold on long term contracts and many of these were probably agreed before the Oil price jump of this year.

Add in MASSIVE capital outlays for Oil Gas, Airports etc and you may well find Qatar struggles to finance all their projects.

And what about Barlcays, in my opinion this investment was pure PR. If the Country can afford to invest abroad it sends a sign that things are OK at home, but are they.

Don't scare us :(

Guys.. the problem havent started let the Q4 results of local banks and other big companies came out then only you will see the real genie coming out of the bottle

"only the strong will survive"

I'm getting this info from filipino friends not news source...But many one year contracts are being terminated 5 months in and not much new OFW hiring is taking place.

You can't teach experience...

We usually get a very good raise every April and every October/November but this year we got a slight raise in April but after that nothing.. Our October raise has been cancelled it seems...

Are they getting sent home from Qatar or the Gulf in general ??

As TallG said, it supply and demand. Perhaps companies can hire cheaper resources from other countries.

You can't teach experience...

So basically, with the fall of the dollar and pound, most people are better off when sending money home.

It was 42 just Months ago...The filipinos would be dancing in the street; however, the reason is the OFWs are getting sent home by the thousands...

You can't teach experience...

Yes, that was my point. It's good to know the asian labourers are able to send more money home.

I think the Indians are also better off. I recall talking to a few colleagues earlier in the year and the Rupee was really high then..

Yeah, I realise others are benefiting from the exchange rates. It helps to know that others are able to send more money home now (though I was thinking more of the asian labourers than people like yourself ;)

Well from your point brit, the pound is certainly in a good position. Plus you can help your son out a bit if he needs it, i understand that.

*calls britexpat jr* "we said 50/50 right?"

hehe

____________________________

I agree with you. My son has been working for a year now and still can't save a penny.. The people suffering the most are the taxpayers and the elderly. Hope the economy brightens up soon..

TallG.. Sorry, but since I get paid here in Riyals, I would prefer a weaker pound for the foreseeable future..:0)

It's the ones in the west earning minimum wage i think about. I mean when i lived in the UK i had to work two jobs, one was cash in hand, the other was to the bank (which just covered bills and tax).

I really can't imagine how the average person in the UK (especially the ones that aren't allowed benefits... you know, Brits) are managing to cope with it all.

High petrol

High tax (accross the board)

High Rent (not quite like here mind you)

Just dread to think in all honesty. I seriously do count my lucky stars everyday i wake up and drive to work.

____________________________

rahsoft - thanks for the advice. I'm a very particular, special case and I don't want to go into it here, but yes, my wife is out here working on a project for a UK company and as you said most of our living expenses are covered, so we are definitely still gaining from being out here.

Life is not that bad! It simply came as a shock to the system when the exchange rate dropped so suddenly.

Yes Qatar is being affected by the crisis, already some high profile Petrochemical projects and some major developements have been put on hold..I hope it doesnt get as bad as US and UK and the rest of europe..

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

I think its doing ok.

the biggest worry in the middle east is inflation eroding the values of the liquid assests.

There are some indirect effects since Qatar has invested around the world with the petro dollars they accumulated. so some investments have devalued, but not a big deal since they are in it for the long term.

Now qatar is investing again all over in the firesale that is going on in europe and America and they are doing it as active investors rather than passive.

Tallg. you should have a spot check rate in your contract to cover the big changes in the exchange rate. however if you are like some expats who are paid in Uk and seconded, then it should mean the majority of living expenses are covered by employer.

Recruitment wise, yes there are cutback in jobs, but it seems that plenty of west expats are coming here for the finanace jobs. all the big investors (banks) are trying to move their capital into islamic finance here in gulf. but there is a dire shortage of the experienced bankers and lawyers(estimated 30k experienced staff required here in middle east over next 10 years), which means great news for my wife. She also tells me that commercial real estate here in qatar will go up

Qatar is not in denial about the problems, just that they are a little more cushioned for the impact.the dubai property market was in overhang and was just waiting to happen like US and UK.i have been told that Qatar went through a mild recession in 2005/2006, but this was not felt by most people here.

with regards to the rents. i have seen some here go up! but i suspect that is because the owners have lost money again on the markets( like they did 2 years ago) and jack up the rents to cover their losses.

Basically if you are here from the US or the UK you have had some advantages with those currencies, but you are generally better of weathering the storm here.

Before anyone thinks I'm gloating, I'm not. I am worried about my family and friends in the UK and Malaysia( to a lesser degree) who I know will suffer. I also feel concern for those on low incomes who were already having a hard time. The pressure on them is going to get worse and I expect there to be some sort of disruptive situation ocuring in response.

i will feel it in my year end bonus...good thing we had a good start to the year...but did we have to end it like this...

ok.. move out of your flat and give it to me.. i will get back my opportunity...:)

but to be honest, i am happy wherever i am now..:)

no matter where, matter WHO with.. :)

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

qatarisun - you missed the oportunity :(

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

ok. charan.. i keep hearing about your flat for over half a year already.. will i have the same one at last???

brit.. yeah... right.. struggling to make ends meet.. poor you.. you touched my heart... cannot stop crying.. are you not starving byn the chance?? may be need some help? i can buy a hamburger for you... But only once a month.. cannot afford any more.. all my funds are on the saving accounts in offshore banks all around the world..:)

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

tara_thesouther...If the flat is in Musharibb I pity for you.

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

tara_thesouther...Never go through an Agent. They are like CROCROACHES :(

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

May be, i dunno...

Moving on is simple; it's what you leave behind that makes it so difficult .

They too me and my husband for a ride here in Doha.. we rentd a flat for 9k and I just saw an ad for one for 7.5k in the same building and furniture.

What do they think were made of money?

What is co cool about that deal. I am in Edzan Compound in Wakra.

I pay QR 6000 a month for 2BR, Brand New, Tastefully Furnished apartment with 2 swimming pools, tennis court, Basket ball court, club house, Covered Paking, Landscape Gardens, 24 hour security, children play area

The Agent has tried to take your friend for a ride.

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

Thanx for ur answr to qatarisun.

originaly this flat in wakra 1t was 8k when approched by my frnz side, then after 4 days they called him and offered for 6.5k and he agreed, cool na LOL :)

Moving on is simple; it's what you leave behind that makes it so difficult .

We are struggling to make ends meet and you are asking about high interest accounts.. The Lord smiles on a few..:)

they need to look "Above and Beyond". Scale back a fair bit. I think they need to keep a tab on inflation. People and employers have sort of come to terms with it. Making peace with 'rising' inflation could dampen customer confidence which would add to the economic dampening.

"the address of the flat that went down from 8 K to 5K.."

No 15, Al Ahttiya Market

Sanaya

Industrial Area.

So hurry up & Grab the lifetime chance :)

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

I heard most of the layoffs will be in london and newyork for citibank...

Its so sad .. the auto industry if feeling pressure too.

Top todays' headlines CITIGROUP will cut 52000 employees in early 2009.......do we have citibank in Qatar, if yes then we will have impact of global slowdown, the impact will start with real estate, airlines, hotels, automobile, tourism and banks......wait and watch in next 3 months.

can someone recommend a good reliable OFF SHORE bank with the high interest on saving account?

thanks!

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

catsniper, can you give me the address of the flat that went down from 8 K to 5K.. please.

*********************

“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

But investors in Qatar are freaking out because of the media propaganda...

I personally know a number of top officials in major banks and they say we are so liquidated so no cash problem...

Its affected 100%, personally we can feel it. Our salary increment percentages are worsen than previous years and still on hold and special instruction from top management to cut cost in all possible way. Especially while was talking to friends in industrial are business in all sector fall, even small shops got affected. The number truck hires in between countries like Saudi and UAE reduced even their charges for each trip fallen half times. Some of the projects in Ras laffan slow down and Their recruitments are not in ease as it used to be coz tight guidelines from top managements. Rents are coming down in doha like two room flat which was 7-8k now reduced to 5-6k. so many things are happening around. Its already HIT thing…

Moving on is simple; it's what you leave behind that makes it so difficult .

No Qatar is fine at the moment..

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

Qatar is already affected, the money flow in the market is very bad.

Well Qatar is also in the world so it will also be effected soon. There are many reasons:

Most of the Arab investors including Qatar had invested money in US stocks and you have seen the condition of stocks so the big part of their savings ruined in stocks.

Secondly, petrol prices slashed off and still becoming low so therefore their profit ration already has been declined. Now if anyone says that Qatar is based upon Gas but remember gas prices are also based on petroleum.

In the end, if Qatar has good reserves then it will resist and survive against this recession.

Indeed, we just didn't realise how good the good times were! If I had I'd have transferred a bucket load of pounds into riyals for the times like this. Oh hindsight, what a wonderful thing you are.

I'm seriously considering flogging my car here just to raise some cash.

Well you had the good times, so now have to suffer a little :)

We get paid pounds into our UK bank accounts.

It also means that you can send more pounds home..

Cannot see much effect to the day to day living here in Qatar. have not heard of any mass lay offs.

I am sure those dabbling in the financial markets may be a bit stressed, but not really for much affect to Joe expat.

Maybe Amnesia can come and tell us the story from the 'other side'

I get paid in rials, so equivalent to a 30% pay rise.

Fosters still QR318 at QDC

Petrol still QR0.80 ltr

Lets party!!!

No, I don't think it'll come to a recession.

lol forgot about that peg.

Yeah denial seems to be a bit of a way of life in the middle east, but heck, that's the boat we are all in so we gotta go with the tide.

I don't personally think Qatar will get to a stage of recession, but i do think we will start seeing more cut backs.

____________________________

Being paid in USD want have any affect, since the Riyal is pegged to the Dollar!

But agreed, the average person probably wont notice it yet. I do thing it's more than "slightly affected" though. Plus there's still an air of denial that anything is wrong.

Well Qatar has been slightly affected... Government spending has been cut by 10% and companies with projects being funded by the government have been told to cut their spending by 10% i.e. Qatar foundation, QP etc

So it has had a marginal effect, but it is more a case of pre-empting something rather than Qatar reacting to the current affairs.

The average person probably won't notice it though, unless you are one of the unfortunate ones being paid in USD or GBP

____________________________

I personally haven't felt the pinch yet, but the stock market is going down the toilet, oil dropped again.

I think more of us will be feeling the pinch soon.

So how do you explain the fall of more than 7% in the DSM over the last couple of days, the predicted fall off in GDP growth, and the fact that QIA have begun investing in the local banks?

I'm far from being a financial expert but even I can spot the signs.

But I'm still more annoyed at the weak pound and consequential 25% increase in my living expenses!

Let me clear one thing my friends

Its just an concept for big companies

I do not c any change after world financial crisis, c everything normal in qatar

-The AdMan

4 ur advertising needs

call me

Isn't damac the company building expensive houses over here? I keep seeing their ads everywhere.

retail lending is being restricted so I guess this means the effect has come to Qatar and these are signs for it..

"The best way to predict the future is to create it".

As we get paid in GBP it means everything here has jumped in price by 25%. That sucks.