The staging of Olympic Games in Rio is exceptionally vital for Qatar, host of the football World Cup 2022. The World Cup 2018 and Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 are the two mega sporting events scheduled to take place before Qatar’s, and the first time such a sporting extravaganza is being held anywhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

The plunge in oil prices over the past two years has not deterred Qatar from investing heavily in mega projects related to hosting the Cup. Planned investments by local and global sources could reach as high as $200 billion.

The projects include a novel metro system, state-of-the-art stadia, road networks and diverse hospitality schemes. Obviously, there is no need for a new airport as the Hamad International Airport opened in 2014.

This is a sizeable amount for Qatar, being slightly larger than the country’s gross domestic product. Qatar has a nominal GDP of around $190 billion. The football event should expand Qatar’s GDP at a faster pace.

Like the rest of Gulf countries, Qatar’s public finance is facing pressures. The low-oil price environment is leaving its imprints on budgetary figures in all Gulf economies.

Qatar’s budget for fiscal year 2016 was prepared with expenditures and revenues of $55.6 billion and $42.9 billion, respectively. The assumed shortage of $12.7 billion is something extraordinary for Qatar, a country noted for registering surpluses for the past 15 years.

During the times of relatively high oil prices, Qatar authorities tended to assume conservative statistics for revenues, a practice allowing for turning projected deficit into surplus. Unpleasantly, this phenomenon is not available in the current atmosphere of low oil prices.

Nevertheless, Qatar can rely on international financial markets to raise funds if and when necessary. This was put to test earlier in the year when Qatar made headlines for tapping $9 billion through Eurobonds, characterised as a record by regional standards.

Investors seemed pleased with the country’s sovereign ratings of Aa2 granted by Moody’s. Part of the comfort with Qatar is derived from its limited public debt, comprising around a quarter of the GDP. Other sources put the ratio of government debt higher — at 44 per cent of GDP.

Yet, Standard & Poor’s seems satisfied with the fundamentals surrounding the Qatari economy, as evidenced by its affirmation of an AA long-term sovereign credit rating together with a stable outlook. Concurrently, Fitch has reaffirmed an AA and stable outlook.

Understandably, rating agencies are delighted with facts such as Qatar being a leader in the export of liquefied natural gas, its magnitude of foreign assets and boasting of the highest per capita income in the world.

As proof, there are the latest figures by the SWF Institute put the value of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund at $335 billion. This is considerably higher than the country’s GDP.

Other comfort areas emerge from the near absence of inflationary pressures and unemployment among locals. The inflation rate is put around 3 per cent, certainly normal by global standards.

The jobless rate among locals is believe to be one of the lowest, estimated at 1 per cent. Many Qataris can find work in state entities. The authorities also provide bonuses to qualified locals during special national and religious occasions to help maintain the desired quality of living, including ease of foreign travel.

Qatari authorities have the necessary means to put on a remarkable World Cup.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain.