Rift in the Middle East | Qatar, neighbours may lose up to billions from domestic split

A diplomatic rift between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours may cost the nations billions of dollars by slowing trade and investment and making it more expensive for the region to borrow money as it grapples with low oil prices.

With an estimated $335 billion of assets in its sovereign wealth fund, Qatar looks able to avoid an economic crisis over the decision on Monday by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut air, sea and land transport links.

The tiny state’s newly expanded port facilities mean it can continue liquefied natural gas exports that earned it a trade surplus of $2.7 billion in April, and import by sea goods that used to come over its land border with Saudi Arabia, now closed.

But parts of Qatar’s economy could suffer badly if the dispute, over Riyadh’s allegations that Doha has been supporting terrorism, drags on for months – a prospect that helped to push the Qatari stock market down more than 7 percent on Monday.

Fast-growing Qatar Airways, at the centre of the tiny state’s effort to become a tourism hub, is likely to face losses from being barred some of the Middle East’s biggest hubs.

Qatar’s government has been borrowing at …read more