The economic consequences of the conflict are beginning to be felt in the finances of the petro-monarchies, six months after the start of the war in the Middle East between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other.
We are talking in particular about Qatar, where the halt in traffic through the highly strategic artery of the Strait of Hormuz is creating a hole in the emirate’s public finances — a major first.
In the second quarter of 2026, the country’s budget deficit indeed rose to 21.2 billion riyals – the equivalent of five billion euros –, according to the briefing given by the emirate’s Finance Minister, i.e., a level twice as high as in the previous quarter.
Cause: a loss of revenue for the country from gas sales. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, LNG carriers no longer pass through, and Qatar’s customers are therefore forced to cancel their orders.
Last year, Doha had shipped 500 LNG carriers to sell gas. In the first six months of this year, there were only 18. Since January, seven billion euros of deficit have weighed on the Qatari accounts, while the country had anticipated only a deficit of five billion for all of 2026.
Result: Qatar, where hydrocarbon sales – gas for three quarters – account for 78% of the state budget, is embarking on a drive to save money, even though at this stage it does not plan to cut the salaries of its civil servants or reduce the size of its investments.
