Qatar will stand by Lebanon during crisis: Emadi

DOHA: Qatar will stand by Lebanon during its current economic crisis, Qatari Finance Minister Ali al-Emadi told a conference in Doha. Lebanon is facing the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, rooted in decades of state waste and corruption that has landed the country with one of the world's heaviest public debt burdens. Lebanon's "economic and political stability is very important for the government and for the Middle East and so Qatar will always stand by Lebanon," Emadi told the Doha Forum conference.

Meanwhile, Qatar's Finance Minister Ali al-Emadi told a conference in Doha said that Qatar is open to accepting all currencies for trade though the dollar will still dominate.

The comment at the Doha Forum came in response to a question about whether Qatar, one of the world largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), was prepared to accept other currencies in LNG trade.

"We are very much open to all currencies," al-Emadi said on a joint panel with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The finance ministry clarified the comment was referring to broader trade rather than LNG specifically.

"If you look at Qatar, as I said, most of our economy is dollarized, based on our export of energy," he said.

"But if you look at the way that the financial markets are structured, we are open for all currencies. We have the remnimbis, we have the euros, we have the sterlings, but the domination is for dollars," the minister added.

"For us in Qatar, the currency has been pegged to the dollar for decades. It fits our economy and it seems that it's working very well for us. "When you have a country having 25% of the global GDP, their currency, whether we like it or not, will dominate and that's a fact."

In addition, Qatar Airways has agreed to take a 60% stake in a new $1.3 billion international airport in Rwanda, the staterun Rwanda Development Board said on Twitter.

The board said a first phase of construction would provide facilities for 7 million passengers a year in the Bugesera district, about 25 km south east of the capital Kigali. A second phase, expected to be completed by 2032, would double capacity to 14 million passengers a year.

The country's infrastructure minister Claver Gatete told a news conference that a construction company was still being sought to build the airport, and that once work starts, the first phase would take five years to complete. Qatar Airways declined to immediately comment outside of normal business hours.