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Budget increase: Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani approved the government’s 2023 budget on 19 December, based on spending of QR199bn ($54.7bn), down 3% compared to the previous year. According to the Ministry of Finance, total revenues for the year have been estimated at QR228bn, a rise of 16% compared to 2022 and leaving a budget surplus of QR29bn.

Qatar's Sheikh Thani Bin Hamad Al-Thani inaugurated the Aisha Bint Hamad Al-Attiyah Hospital in the Moroccan coastal city of Safi on 20 January, on behalf of Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

A summit of regional leaders, held in Abu Dhabi on 18 January, appeared to be hastily arranged and did not include representatives from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. It has nevertheless prompted widespread speculation about what may have been discussed and the meeting’s wider meaning. Such interest reflects its host’s apparently ever increasing prominence in international affairs.

Noted art collector Qatari Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani has become involved in another court battle in London, this time over a 70-carat diamond.  

The United Kingdom government said in December that it was hosting some 21 military personnel from the Gulf for liaison and engagement purposes.

Amiri Yachts, which acts as a holding company for a fleet of Qatari royal yachts, has filed a claim in the High Court of Justice in London, seeking a refund from Lebanon’s Privinvest Holding for work carried out on the Katara superyacht at Privinvest’s German shipyard.

Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are reportedly cautiously moving toward "soft normalisation or partial recognition" of the Taliban, amid fears that international terrorist organisations like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) could exploit Afghanistan's security vacuum and pose a security threat to Gulf Arab countries.

Irish hotelier Paddy McKillen has filed a case in a Los Angeles court seeking $18m from Qatar's senior Al-Thanis who he said had cheated him of fees.

Bilateral ties between Doha and Berlin are usually considered to be strong, marked by significant investment flows and commercial links flowing in both directions. However, in his letter, ambassador Claudius Fischbach wrote that Germany’s ‘trust or confidence bonus’ in Qatar had been lost over recent weeks.

Qatar is reportedly reviewing its London investments after Transport for London banned Qatari advertising on the capital’s buses, taxis and underground due to concerns over Doha’s stance on LGBT+ issues and its treatment of migrant workers.

In the shadow of the Fifa World Cup, Qatar has been building up a network of institutions which could help its soft power efforts and hopes of positioning Doha as a sporting centre. Among the bodies is the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), set up by former Qatar Armed Forces Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Hanzab in 2010 – the year Qatar won the World Cup hosting rights.

Qatar has invested heavily in Europe’s largest economy, favouring large investments in companies with high political value or systemic importance.

Probably not the region’s worst offender, Doha has bristled about western criticism of its human rights record before and during the football World Cup, with comments from German government ministers proving a particular irritation. However, European politicians have other concerns about Qatari actions closer to home, with a corruption scandal involving alleged influence-peddling in the European Parliament among the issues that could threaten Doha’s perceptions of which allies are most worth cultivating.

Just when it thought exciting football on the pitch had overtaken negative coverage of human rights issues, Qatar has been embroiled in a growing scandal in Belgium, amid allegations that unnamed power-brokers in Doha had tried to improperly influence proceedings by offering cash and other gifts to members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani has scored a victory in the London courts in a case involving fake artworks in his extensive collection.