Energy-rich Qatar is likely to maintain its robust economic growth, shrugging off a suicide car bombing that killed a Briton at a theatre popular with Westerners, analysts said on Sunday. Saturday's attack, the first in the US-allied Gulf Arab state, also injured 16 people, mainly Arabs and Asians. It was carried out by an Egyptian who rammed an explosive-laden car into the theatre near a British school in the capital Doha, Qatari officials said.
"I would be surprised if this knocks Qatar off track. There is a lot of momentum built up in the economy," said Simon Williams of London's Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
He said the EIU was unlikely to cut its forecast of 8 percent 2005 real economic growth for Qatar in the wake of the attack.
Qatar's economy grew 8.7 percent in real terms in 2004, the EIU estimates, driven by higher oil and gas prices and increased output from the country's gas-based industries. Qatar has the world's third largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran.
Qatar's stock market barely moved on Sunday, the day after the attack. The Doha Securities Market index eased just 31 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at about 11,225 points.
The bourse has risen 73 percent this year, setting new records, ahead of a partial opening to foreign investors.
"One bomb is not going to fundamentally affect the business of the country," said Shailesh Dash, an analyst at Global Investment House, an investment bank in nearby Kuwait.
He added: "We have seen the same thing (a bombing) in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and it didn't have any impact on the markets."
However, one senior economist in Qatar said the attack could hurt foreign investment, or lead to ratings downgrades from credit rating agencies, which could raise the cost of borrowing for major energy and infrastructure projects.
"This is a very problematic situation," he told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "This could delay mega-projects that are still in progress."
Williams disagreed, saying lenders were unlikely to be deterred. "You are still talking about a political system that is very stable, and its finances are in very good shape."
He said energy companies were used to operating in turbulent countries and would be unaffected by the Qatar attack.
In late February, Qatar signed more than $10 billion worth of gas-related investment deals with Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total.
Williams said state-backed service sector projects such as Qatar Education City and Qatar Financial Centre, which aim to attract global universities and banks, would be more vulnerable.
But he added: "This attack may lead some international companies to take a second look at their operations in Qatar, but I think that after that second look, they will go ahead pretty much as planned."
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