Qatar spends more than $30bn to keep economy afloat during restrictions

According to analysts at Moody's, Qatar has pumped $38bn, 23% of its GDP, back into the country's economy in an effort to keeps its head above water after sanctions placed against it hit its foreign trade, tourism and banking sectors hard.

The restrictions placed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain led to an estimated outflow of $30bn from the nation's banking system with further withdrawals expected to follow.

It's neighbours, some of which were listed as members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) voted to cut off Qatar, believing the country was complicit in the support of terrorism.

Qatar has explicitly denied providing any support to extremist groups in the region, saying it felt the crisis was politically motivated.

As a result of the Saudi lead bloc voting to enact the restrictions in June, Qatar had seen its only land border closed, a ban on all ships flying its flag from most ports, and a large swathe of the Persian Gulf's airspace closed to both Qatari aircraft as well as foreign carriers destined for Doha.

While the government stressed that it had ample resources to prop up its economy during the crisis, foreign capital bolted for the exits at the first sign of instability, damaging its stock market so thoroughly that it lost 15% of its total market value in just 100 days, before finally reaching its lowest point in over four years on Monday.

But Moody's said tensions in the region were credit negative for all GCC members, with Bahrain, recently voted the most favourable nation in the world among expats, standing to lose the most.

"The severity of the diplomatic dispute between Gulf countries is unprecedented, which magnifies the uncertainty over the ultimate economic, fiscal and social impact on the GCC as a whole," said Moody's vice-president Steffen Dyck.

Bahrain's financing costs had already been worsened as it dealt with rapidly mounting debt, as well as an increase in debt issued from other GCC states, and rising US interest rates since 2014.