The IMF’s Chart of the Day shows Qatar’s gross domestic product per capita at $88,221 in 2010, beating Luxembourg for the top spot, according to IMF data.

The figure may reach $111,963 by 2016, surpassing Luxembourg’s $94,621 and Singapore’s $70,992, the IMF said.

US GDP per capita is forecast at $55,622 in five years, from $46,860 in 2010.

“It’s the combination of wealth, growth and a small population,” said Paul Cooper, Dubai-based managing director at Sarasin-Alpen & Partners, which oversees more than $500 million in the Middle East.

Qatar, the host of the 2022 soccer World Cup, forecasts economic growth of about 16 percent in 2011 and projects a budget surplus of $6.1 billion this fiscal year.

The IMF estimates the Gulf nation will have the world’s fastest-growing economy for a second year. Qatar, which is smaller than Connecticut, has a population of about 848,000, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The country, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has reached its target of 77 million tons of annual production.

Qatar is expected to keep posting budget surpluses in the coming years and the OPEC member’s nominal gross domestic product should jump to QR547bn ($150bn) this year, its central bank governor said earlier this month.

Qatar, one of the largest global investors through its sovereign wealth fund, plans to spend over $125bn in the next five years on construction and energy projects according to its plan.

Qatar’s nominal GDP reached QR463bn in 2010. The government 2011 estimate is putting its growth at 18 percent at current prices, according to Reuters calculations.

Analysts polled by Reuters in June forecast Qatar’s real GDP to expand by 16.7 percent in 2011.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9 percent last month compared to October 2010 representing a 22-month low, a report published by the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi showed.

Month-to-month, prices rose 0.3 percent, the SCAD analysis added.

Food and non-alcoholic drinks contributed the largest share (64.2 percent) of the rise in the index during the first ten months of 2011.

The largest increase within this group was in the prices of meat and coffee, tea and cocoa, which advanced by 14.3 percent each.

Other big risers were fruits (up 11.4 percent), soft drinks (up 8.7 percent), and bread and cereals (up seven percent).

The transport and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels groups also helped drive up prices from January to October with 6.2 percent and 1.8 percent rises compared to the same period last year.

Buy contrast, the clothing and footwear group saw prices drop by nearly 15 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2010, SCAD added.

The statistics showed that in October the most significant individual price increase was eight percent reported for the restaurants and hotels group, followed by alcoholic beverages and tobacco (up 7.4 percent, while clothing and footwear prices fell 11.3 percent compared to October 2010.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, accounts for 40 percent of all new car sales in the UAE and local agent Al Futtaim Motors said sales in the first four months of the year were up 45 percent year-on-year.

“In the first four months of the year we have sold over 30,000 units… We are very happy with that,” said Simon Firth, managing director of Al Futtaim Motors.

While sales of new cars are racing ahead, the results of the Arabian Business debt survey showed only 37 percent of respondents have a car loan and half of those have less than AED50,000 ($13,612) outstanding, a clear sign borrowing rates still appear to be low among new car owners.

Last year, General Motors claimed over a third of applications for car finance were now being rejected by UAE banks. “These are people walking into our showrooms and wanting to buy that new [car] and not being able to get financing,” Mike Devereux, outgoing managing director of GM Middle East operations told Arabian Business.

However, this appears to be changing and the car loan market is beginning to increase, said Shekhar Krishnamurthy, head of retail assets and liabilities at Emirates NBD, the UAE’s largest lender.

“The first half of this year has been good for our business and we have seen double digit growth compared to the last year,” said Krishnamurthy. “We believe that in months to come volumes will further improve. The latest industry figures indicate that the market is expected to register a 10 percent to 15 percent growth in volumes this year and a 15 percent to 20 percent growth in units.”

This would appear likely, if the figures in a survey by IHS Global Insight are proved correct. The report forecast sales of new cars are set to rise to 240,000 this year, up from 210,000 in 2010 but still a lot lower than the 324,000 sold in the boom era of 2008.

However, in a bid to prevent the excesses of the boom era when many borrowers got into debt by borrowing recklessly, the UAE has introduced changes to the terms allowed for new car loans. Borrowers must now have a minimum monthly salary of AED5,000 ($1,361) – 66 percent more than during the boom era.

“With the new regulations, auto loans are offered up to 80 percent of the vehicle price, for a maximum tenor of 60 months and total installment to income ratio capped at 50 percent,” added Krishnamurthy.

While showrooms are anticipating higher demand and lenders are forecasting a growth in car loans, Stephanie Vigier, senior market analyst at IHS Global Insight said the new regulations were unlikely to see a return to the boom era before the credit crunch struck.

“Stricter banking rules and higher interest rates will curb new car sales,” she said. “We think that it will be difficult to come back to the 2008 level as the government has learnt the lesson and will not open widely credits and car loans.”

The amount of credit given to individuals is expected to stay low following tighter regulations issued by the financial regulator in February, despite signs of revival and improved liquidity in the OPEC member’s banking system.

“I don’t think we are going to see a rise in the number of personal loans after the circular that was sent out by the Central Bank earlier this year,” said John Tofarides, an analyst at Moodys bank.

“Also, banks don’t like to give unsecured loans to expats, they would rather give them to nationals who work for the government and who are unlikely to lose their jobs.”

During the boom years, a trend of chaotic consumption in the Gulf state induced enviable rates of growth among the region’s leading lending institutions.

Record-high oil prices coupled with a five-year property surge saw borrowing in the UAE rocket 30 percent annually between 2005 and 2010.

But under the weight of the financial crisis, UAE banks were left exposed to the fallout from Dubai’s debt troubles, and were forced to curb lending and set aside extra funds to meet loan losses.

According to Central Bank data, lending by UAE banks increased just 1.3 percent in 2010 compared with 2.4 percent in 2009.

In line with these trends, just 38 percent of respondents to the UAE debt survey commissioned by Arabian Business said they had a personal loan.

“We believe the borrowings of many retail banking customers will be above the new limits [set by the UAE Central Bank], which effectively precludes them from taking on more debt,” said Rahul Shah, a financial analyst at Deutsche Bank.

“Also, the experience of other markets where borrowing limits have been tightened, such as Saudi Arabia, suggests that consumer credit growth is subsequently subdued.”

A recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group revealed that profits across 35 Middle East banks increased significantly last year due to lower loan provisions, which dropped 17 percent in 2010 to $8billion.

Boosting bank profits further has been a growth in customer deposits, up 21 percent between September 2008 and December 2010.

In February, the senior director of the UAE central bank’s treasury department Saif al-Shamsi said banks were now in a good position to tackle any new challenges.

However, the head of HSBC in the UAE, Abdulfattah Sharaf, said the new lending rules which have capped personal loans could hurt the Gulf state’s biggest lenders.