Qatar won’t see a “significant” increase in sovereign debt in order to build the stadiums, roads, rail and metro networks needed to host the 2022 World Cup, Standard & Poor’s said.
In an emailed statement credit analyst Luc Marchand said: “As in the past, we expect most of the infrastructure will be financed via revenues from the oil and gas sectors.”
The gas-rich emirate is expected to spend around $64bn in preparation for the tournament, S&P’s said, or around 47 percent of 2010 GDP.
Spending for the event may result in a budget surplus of about seven percent of GDP from 2011 to 2013.
The 2022 Cup “will have a substantial impact on Qatar’s already promising economic growth over the next few years,” Marchand said.
Additional moderate borrowing is possible, as has already occurred via government guarantees, he said.
The report assigned the country an AA/Stable/A-1+ rating.
