Qatar World Cup: Good Return on Investment?

In My Humble Opinion
21

When dealing with Qatar (or any of the small Gulf countries) it’s important to be sure you’re looking at the relevant population figures. In some of these countries the real locals / citizens / natives represent barely 20% of the people living / working there. Everybody else is a foreigner of some flavor usually on a temporary work contract.

Unlike the US or Europe, most of these petro-states’ government income comes from resource extraction, not taxes on the citizens and “guest” workers. The fiscal implications of government spending are not the same in these sorts of countries as we’re used to thinking about here at home.

22

Has that $300-400 billion number been verified? I feel that someone snuck an extra zero in at some point… Even with all the infrastructure projects, a $30-40 billion price tag seems more likely for Qatar.

23

That number might have been inflated by huge amounts, who knows? But this is what I was thinking.