Mubasher: An increase in public spending by 1.7% year-on-year is seen in the Qatari state budget for 2019.

Spending is projected at QAR 206.7 billion riyals, while a surge by 20.5% is expected in revenues to a total of QAR 211 billion.

This means that the Qatari government expects a QAR 4.3 billion surplus next year, compared with an estimated QAR 28.1 billion deficit for 2018.

The increase in revenues is largely attributed to higher natural gas and oil prices.