Petroleum is the cornerstone of Qatar's economy and accounts for more than 70% of total government revenue, more than 60% of gross domestic product, and roughly 85% of export earnings. Proved oil reserves of 15 billion barrels (588,000,000 m³) should ensure continued output at current levels for 23 years. Oil has given Qatar a per capita GDP that ranks among the highest in the world. Qatar's proved reserves of natural gas exceed 7000 km³, more than 5% of the world total, third largest in the world. Production and export of natural gas are becoming increasingly important. Long-term goals feature the development of off-shore petroleum and the diversification of the economy.

Qatar is now the richest country in the Muslim world. Current GDP per capita registered a world record-breaking peak growth of 1,156% in the Seventies. This became quickly unsustainable and Qatar's current GDP per capita contracted 53% in the Eighties. But rising global oil demand helped current GDP per capita to expand 94% in the Nineties. Diversification is still a long-term issue for this over-exposed economy.

Qatar (ⁱ/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or ⁱ/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر‎ [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.

Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.

Dr. Tarik Yousef el-Magariaf is the chief executive of Silatech, a social initiative for youth employment and entrepreneurship in the Arab world.

Tarik was an Associate Professor of Economics in the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, at Georgetown University. He is the son of Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, Libya's former ambassador to India and the Secretary General of the 1980s group, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Tarik served one term at the Dubai School of Government (2007–2011) as its second dean, following Yassar Jarrar. Tarik was a Senior Nonresident Fellow at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution He has worked in the past at the Middle East Department of the International Monetary Fund, as a Senior Advisor at the Millennium Project with the United Nations, and at the Office of the Chief Economist in Middle East and North Africa Region at the World Bank.

Dr. Yousef received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and his B.S. from the University of Oregon in Economics. His current research focuses on global economics and development, the political economy of labor reform, dynamics of labor markets, development policies in oil-exporting countries, and on the economy of Egypt and the Middle East.