Oil and gas producer Qatar will base its budget on an oil price of $40 a barrel—lower than the actual expected price—in order to protect its finances from volatility in oil prices, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said . “To avoid negative economic consequences due to oil price volatility, we have instructed that the state budget be based on an oil price of $40 a barrel, which is lower than the expected price,” Sheikh Al Thani said in a speech at Qatar’s legislative body, as carried by Bloomberg. The economies of all oil and gas producers in the Middle East have been hit this year by the coronavirus crisis and the oil price crash. The low price of oil has decimated government revenues and forced all countries in the region to undertake budget and tax reforms to try to stop the widening of their […]