Alwaght- The energy-rich Qatari regime is facing a major budget deficit and has decided to raise the cost of petrol by at least a third beginning Friday.
The surprise price rise goes in to effect at midnight (2100 GMT) and has led to long lines at some petrol stations in Qatar, according to social media.
Fuel stations around the country delivered statements merely a few hours before the midnight deadline. In another sign of biting budget deficit, Qatari regime owned al-Jazeera America TV is closing less than three years after its launch, is shutting down. The news was abruptly announced to staff on Wednesday afternoon. The network’s last day on the air will be 30 April. Last summer Qatar announced it would face its first budget deficit in 15 years in 2016 because of the fall in energy prices.
In December, it was forecast that lower energy prices would leave Qatar with a hole of around $12 billion in the 2016 budget.
The petrol price hikes in Qatar follows a similar move in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia where the monarchy regimes in those countries have been forced to boost revenues hit by slumping oil prices and involvement in regional conflicts.
The Bahraini regime’s cabinet said in a statement carried by state news agency BNA on Monday that its weekly meeting set the new price for fuel.
Like other Persian Gulf oil-exporting states, Bahrain has for many years subsidized goods and services such as food, fuel, electricity and water, keeping prices ultra-low in an effort to buy loyalty for the ruling monarchy.
Meanwhile the Saudi regime has revealed a series of fuel-related subsidy reforms to lower current expenditures and bolster the monarchy’s finances dented by the downturn in global oil prices and direct involvement in destabilizing regional countries including Syria and Iraq by financing terrorist groups and engaging in an endless and brutal aggression against Yemen.
