Mubasher: Qatar’s trade surplus surged 41.1% year-on-year for the first half of 2018, according to a report released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) on Wednesday.

The GCC nation's trade surplus amounted to QAR 90.73 billion ($24.92 billion) in H1-18, compared to QAR 64.30 billion ($17.66 billion) in the same quarter a year earlier.

Total exports of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter hiked 26% year-on-year to QAR 147.3 billion, according to the report.

Meanwhile, imports rose 7.5% to QAR 56.6 billion during the six-month period ended 30 June, versus QAR 52.6 billion in the same period of the prior year.

Quarter-on-quarter, Qatar’s trade surplus jumped 44.5% to QAR 47.68 billion during the second quarter of 2018, the report showed.

It attributed the rise in trade surplus to a 31.7% increase in exports to QAR 75.77 billion in Q2-18, compared to QAR 57.56 billion in Q2-17.