Bloomberg Podcasts Sep 20, 2026
With Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, Governor of the Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority
Qatar has lost about a sixth of its revenue to the war, and the LNG plant at the center of that loss has been attacked and will take two to three years to repair.
A state that loses that much income usually starts drawing on its sovereign wealth fund. Qatar has not asked the Qatar Investment Authority for anything, because a stabilization fund built out of the surplus years is doing the work instead.
"We are not there to invest and make a profit and exit. We invest to stay for longer for future generation."
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, Governor of the Qatar Central Bank, on Bloomberg Podcasts, also chairs the Qatar Investment Authority, which means the person who decides whether the sovereign wealth fund gets tapped and the person who would have to hold the banking system together are the same person.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 6 numbers that matter.
Key Takeaways
17% of Qatar's revenue has been wiped out by the conflict and the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz
The LNG facility has been attacked, and the first estimate puts the repair at two to three years
The expansion behind it is unchanged: double the production, to 145 million tons a year by 2030
GDP contracted 7%, which he says is not structural, and the non-hydrocarbon economy grew 3.5% over the same stretch
Debt to GDP has come down from 60% to 40%, and the non-hydrocarbon share of GDP has gone from 40% in 2011 to about 70%
The government has not asked the Qatar Investment Authority for support, and the board has told QIA to keep investing through the war
He wants AI regulated, on the condition that the regulation protects the technology rather than slowing it
Qatar does not pick between Chinese and American AI, but the largest part of QIA's portfolio is in the US
The central bank is running 18 AI projects and has delivered 4 of them
1. 17% Of Revenue, Gone
The anchor set the segment up on inflation: global central banks had moved that week in a way that said inflation is not anchored anywhere, and it is reaching markets everywhere. Her first question was narrower, and it was about the LNG plant.
Sheikh Bandar answered by naming the two things pressing on Qatar at once: the conflict between the United States and Iran, and the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz putting pressure on energy prices.
The war has taken a sixth of the state's revenue
And 17% of our revenue has been wiped out.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The anchor said that is a huge percentage. He agreed and went straight to the plant.
2. The LNG Repair Clock
The facility was hit, and the first estimate is two to three years of repair
The impact is huge. LNG facility has been attacked. The damage is huge and will take, as per the first estimation, two to three years to repair.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
What he put against that is the expansion program, which he says is unchanged in ambition even with the damaged plant out of service.
The expansion still doubles production by 2030
However, the good news is that we've been working on a new expansion, a new expansion that will double our size of production, and we will reach 145,000,000 tons a year by 2030. The first phase of the new expansion will start by 2027.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
Asked whether 2027 is when the building starts or when the gas flows, he said production. He then put a condition on it that the rest of the interview kept coming back to: everything depends on how the Strait of Hormuz and the wider regional situation develop. The plan, as he described it, is first-phase production in 2027 and the full 145 million tons a year by 2030.
3. Two Economies, One GDP
The anchor asked how long Qatar can absorb a downturn of this kind if nothing changes, given the government spending cuts already made. Sheikh Bandar said he would be very frank, and the anchor told him he already was.
The economy shrank 7%, and he says the cause is the war rather than the structure
We are in the region where the war is existing, and that has impacted our economy. We contracted by seven percent because of the war. The good thing is it's not structural. It's because of the current situation.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
His evidence for that is the split inside the number. The contraction sits entirely on the hydrocarbon side, and everything else grew.
The non-hydrocarbon economy grew 3.5% while the headline number fell
So the contraction came up from the hydrocarbon side, but non hydrocarbon is growing by 3.5%, and that's because of diversification of the economy.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
He then listed the balance-sheet position, and the debt figure is the one that does the work.
Debt to GDP has been cut by a third, from 60% to 40%
Our external fiscal position is very strong. We have one of the largest sovereign wealth funds. Also, we have reduced our debt to GDP from 60% to 40%.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The buffer being spent now was built out of the surplus years
Our government, they accumulated the surplus in the good years that built a stabilization fund to support the economy and the government in such cases.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The diversification claim has a longer series behind it, and he gave it.
Non-hydrocarbon activity has gone from 40% of GDP in 2011 to about 70%
Also, now the non hydrocarbon percentage of the GDP rose from 40% in 2011 to 70% recently.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
He added that Qatar has been affirmed at a double-A sovereign rating and that the central bank holds a large reserve.
His recovery case is conditional on the war ending
So we believe that if the situation resolved in The Middle East, we will recover, and we will see more growth in the coming years.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
4. QIA Has Not Been Called
The anchor asked the question that matters most for anyone watching the fund: how much of the reserves and the foreign currency liquidity is Qatar willing to spend now to cushion the damage, and how much is being held for future generations.
The government has not drawn on the sovereign wealth fund at all
Actually, as I mentioned earlier, until now, the government did not rely on Qatar Investment Authority for any support yet because the government built a stabilization fund to support the economy for such a situation.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
Supporting the government is one of QIA's mandates, he said, and so far there has been no need to use it. The instruction running the other way is the notable one.
The board has told QIA to carry on investing through the war
And we have, as a board, we have instructed the QIA management to continue investments, and we have participated in many investments so far, and we have also disclosed that on our website.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
Asked whether the conflict has pulled the fund's capital homeward, so that flows which historically went worldwide are now aimed at domestic investment, he declined to answer and pointed at the prime minister's session later that day.
He had an announcement he would not preview
Today, I don't wanna say it now. You just wait, you will listen, and you will see some also announcement about new initiatives that the prime minister will announce today.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The anchor asked whether he would give up one or two rather than make everyone wait for the ballroom. He would not.
On where the money is going, he described the strategy as unchanged and deliberately spread.
Technology and AI is now one of the fund's major sectors, inside a diversified portfolio
We have a clear strategy in the QIA. Have a diversified portfolio. We don't focus in just one sector.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The holding period is generational, not a trade
We are long term investors. We are not short term. We are not there to invest and make a profit and exit. We invest to stay for longer for future generation.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
5. A Believer In Regulation
Part of his remit is financial regulation, so the anchor asked how he thinks about putting guardrails around AI, given the argument going on in the US. His answer was three words long, and the anchor checked she had heard it right.
He said he is a believer of regulation.
He wants rules, and wants them written to support the technology
We support the development of this technology, but we have to have a regulation in place.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The test he sets for the regulation is that it protects rather than slows
But it's very important also that the regulation not to, let us say, slow down the technology, but it's protect the technology.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
6. No Side, But One Market
Asked whether Qatar is picking a side in the competition between Chinese and American AI, Sheikh Bandar said no, and then described an allocation that answers the question anyway.
Qatar does not pick a side, and invests for return
We don't pick a side. We invest for to make profit and to stay longer. So we are not picky, and we look to all the options in a place.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The largest part of the portfolio is in the US, for innovation and market depth
However, most of our investments — the largest portfolio of QIA is deployed in United States Of America because most of the innovation and the deep capital market is in The United States Of America.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
The last question was about his own institution rather than the fund: how AI has changed the way the central bank works.
The central bank has 18 AI projects and 4 are delivered
It's — we have 18 projects of AI in the central bank. We delivered, also now so far, four of these 18 projects.
Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani
Those four, he said, have been effective and efficient, have cut cost and sped up the time things take, and the central bank will keep investing in it.
Bonus Insights
The framing the anchor arrived with
She opened on inflation rather than on Qatar: global central banks had moved that week in a way that signaled inflation is not anchored across the globe, and it is reaching markets everywhere. The Qatar conversation was introduced as the local case of that.
Two conditions he attached to everything
Both the 2027 production start and the recovery case were made conditional on the Strait of Hormuz and on the regional situation. He said it twice, unprompted the second time.
He uses AI himself
Asked at the end whether he uses it personally, whether his family does, and whether he asks ChatGPT things or still Googles them, he said he does.
Sheikh Bandar's bottom line is that the damage is severe but bounded: 17% of revenue gone, a 7% contraction he attributes to the war rather than the structure of the economy, an LNG plant that needs two to three years of repair — and, against that, a stabilization fund doing the work a sovereign wealth fund would otherwise do, a debt ratio cut from 60% to 40%, and a fund still buying rather than selling.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Qatar Investment Authority (The sovereign wealth fund he chairs. Not yet called on by the government, instructed by its board to keep investing, diversified by sector with technology and AI among the largest, and weighted toward the US)
Qatar Central Bank (The institution he governs. Holds a large reserve, and is running 18 AI projects of which 4 have been delivered)
ChatGPT and Google (The anchor's shorthand in the closing question about whether he uses AI himself)
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