Doha: A panel discussion was held Saturday during the Doha Forum 2025 deliberations themed: "Global Trade Tensions: Economic Implications and Policy Responses in MENA."
According to Qatar News Agency, the panel convened HE Minister of Finance Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, HE Minister of Finance and Revenue of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Muhammad Aurangzeb, alongside Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bo Li. The deliberations revolved around how countries in the Middle East and North Africa are adapting to the escalating uncertainty in global trade and economic policies, while examining the impact of fluctuating tariffs and economic volatility on the global economy, particularly on economies grappling with elevated debt levels and institutions with reduced resilience in the face of financial shocks and systemic pressures.
The session further examined the mechanisms through which countries can bolster resilience against economic shocks by strengthening fiscal and external buffers, advancing economic policy frameworks, and enhancing institutional credibility. It emphasized the role of deeper integration, openness, and improved governance in supporting economic diversification and adaptation to a global environment characterized by heightened levels of uncertainty.
The session weighed in on the major global challenges facing emerging and advanced economies, including climate change, artificial intelligence, and economic diversification, as fundamental pillars for the future of sustainable development. It highlighted how effectively addressing these challenges can assist MENA economies in diversifying their sources, absorbing shocks, and supporting a resilient recovery trajectory.
Foreign trade constitutes approximately 60 percent of Qatar's GDP, reflecting the openness of the Qatari economy and its close integration with global markets through energy, trade, and investment, HE Al Kuwari highlighted. He noted that this significant reliance on trade flows imposes on Qatar a heightened responsibility to build a diversified and sustainable economy, pivoting away from dependence solely on energy revenues.
Qatar is pursuing long-term plans that achieve intergenerational equity and ensure the stability of future living standards, and it was among the earliest contributors to the IMF's Sustainability and Resilience Fund, reflecting its role in supporting global economic stability while safeguarding its national economy, Al Kuwari underlined. He highlighted that Qatar has successfully reduced debt levels and built robust reserves through effective management of its financial and monetary assets, thereby enhancing its capacity to absorb external shocks.
The Minister further underscored that artificial intelligence is a strategic sector in which Qatar is making significant investments, not only through data centers but also by developing practical applications that serve the energy, trade, and financial services sectors.
For his part, HE Aurangzeb explained that Pakistan has faced profound challenges due to recurrent floods, which have impacted economic growth, reducing it by 0.5 percent of GDP this year. He noted that the high population growth rate (2.55 percent) exerts pressure on any economic gains, making it difficult to achieve genuine and sustainable growth.
In recent years, the Pakistani government has worked to strengthen its financial reserves through achieving primary budget surpluses and improving the current account, while leveraging remittance inflows from the Gulf region, which exceed $18 billion annually, to bolster stability, Aurangzeb pointed out. He emphasized that the remediations to the challenges facing the country lie in structural reforms and the transition from stability to growth, alongside investment in modern technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, to upskill the youth and increase their productivity.
Strengthening economic openness and multilateralism in global trade is essential to ensure sustainable growth, as long as trade flows, financial flows, and capital movements turn regions such as the Middle East and Central Asia into bridges between major continents like Europe, Asia, and Africa, Bo Li highlighted. He stressed that more openness means more resilience, calling for continued commitment to an approach of economic multilateralism.
Regarding Pakistan as a quintessential model of an emerging economy striving to build economic resilience, Bo Li pointed out that the IMF supports the country with a USD 7 billion stabilization program, noting that this funding aims to strengthen a trifecta of pillars: chiefly, financial resilience through integrating climate risks into fiscal planning; banking resilience through embedding these risks in financial regulation and disclosure; and physical resilience through incorporating them into infrastructure projects.
Overall, Bo Li asserted that these measures are essential for a country exposed to recurrent climate shocks, such as floods, alongside pressures from high population growth. He further stressed the importance of artificial intelligence as a tool for economic diversification, noting that Qatar and the UAE have achieved strong results in the AI readiness index, and that investment in human capital, digital infrastructure, and smart regulation is the path to maximizing benefits.
Noteworthy, the session was organized by the Ministry of Finance and the IMF, as part of the 23rd iteration of the Doha Forum.