Qatar shoppers spend $4,000 monthly on luxuries

Qatar shoppers spend $4,000 monthly on luxuries As GCC tightens belt

Wealthy Qatar residents spent an average of US$4,000 a month on luxury goods and experiences last year – twice that of their regional peers, according to results of a new survey of spending habits in the Middle East.

Falling oil prices and government belt-tightening inside of Qatar have led to hundreds of job losses here, but hasn’t stopped more affluent citizens and residents from enjoying the finer things in life, American Express Middle East said.

That said, a quarter of people surveyed within Qatar confirmed they did cut back on spending last year.

Qatar’s average spend on high-end items and services was the most out of the five Gulf countries (UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain) surveyed for the latest edition of the company’s Spending Survey.

The report was carried out by Germany-based market researchers GfK, and Saudi Arabia was not included.

Qatar residents spent around 12 percent of their average household monthly income on luxury goods and services last year. The $4,000 figure is considerably higher than the $2,500 spent each month in 2014, Bloomberg reported.

Across the region, a total of 430 residents and citizens who had annual household incomes of $75,000 or more took part in the survey, which was conducted between November and December 2015.

All had been residents of their respective Gulf countries for at least one year.

Some 41 percent of households surveyed spent between $1,001 and $5,000 a month on luxuries, while just under a third spent more than $5,000 monthly on such items/services.

Just one percent said they spent less than $250 each month on nice-to-haves, Gulf Times reported.

Mazin Khoury, Chief Executive Officer, American Express Middle East said only around a quarter of people in Qatar reduced spending last year.