The Intercept, a US-based investigative website, said it had gotten hold of the anti-Qatar project in a folder of UAE Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba's e-mail account.

The plot had been devised by Luxembourg's private Banque Havilland -- owned by the family of British financier David Rowland, who has close ties with Abu Dhabi, the report said.

Under the plan, the UAE sought to target Qatar's currency "using bonds and derivatives manipulation."

The UAE also sought to increase Qatar's debt by controlling its "yield curve," referring to a standard financial-industry graph showing a country's borrowing costs for debt that is due at different dates.

"Control the yield curve, decide the future," reads the document.

Through such measures, the UAE would eventually cause Qatar's economy to collapse, reduce the value of its bonds, and increase its credit cost, the Intercept said.