Qatar's diplomatic crisis is likely to pose a huge impact on the country's economy. The costs of transportation, food and other essentials of daily life are all rising as a result of the situation.

Closing down air, sea and land access to Qatar has added an economic dimension to the political decision to sever ties. Qatar shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia, while the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are both nearby, making the row look more like an economic siege on the peninsular nation.

Qatar's economy relies heavily on external support./VCG Photo

Qatar Airways stands to lose its vital transit services as well. A key concern is that over 80 percent of Qatar's food needs to comes through its feuding neighbors. Locals have been stocking up on food, water and other essentials since the news broke out.

The Gulf stock markets also plunged on Monday, though Egypt’s EGX has remained bullish. Egypt-Qatar trade and investment are extremely low, at a mere 500 million dollars. However, there are 300,000 Egyptians working in Qatar, and they could be affected by the diplomatic rift.

Qatar's economy relies heavily on external support./VCG Photo

The influence of the neighbors’ boycott may even reach the ruling family of Qatar, as Ahmed Haggag, former assistant minister of Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, put it: “The ruling elite are stubborn, they will not give up easily. But the people of Qatar will feel isolated for a long time. Pressure from the people themselves is the only viable action to prove to the ruling elite in Qatar that their policy is not sustainable.”

“Those same nations had severed diplomatic ties with Qatar two years ago, but it has not been effective. Now they have used the economy as a political weapon, hoping it would force Qatar to change its unfavorable policies,” said CGTN’s Yasser Hakim.