Qatar government spending to rise sharply next fiscal year: adviser

Qatar's government budget spending will be much higher in the upcoming 2012/13 fiscal year than in the current one, while inflation is likely to move around 3-3.5 per cent, an economic adviser to the country's emir said on Thursday.

Asked how government expenditure would look in the new fiscal year, which starts in April, Ibrahim al-Ibrahim told reporters: "It will be a lot higher."

In its 2011/12 budget, the world's top liquefied natural gas exporter originally planned spending worth 139.9 billion riyals ($38.4bn) and a surplus of 22.5bn riyals, or 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product.

Partly in response to unrest seen elsewhere in the Middle East, Qatar hiked basic salaries and social benefits for state civilian employees by 60 per cent last September, while military staff received 50-120 per cent rises. The IMF estimated social measures would add $1.6bn to expenditure in 2011/12.