Banks’ real estate credit at QR147.7bn

05/04/2018 06:23 AST

Qatar banks’ combined credit facilities to real estate sector rose by QR17bn to QR147.7bn in 2017. The banks’ credit to various sectors stood at QR911bn at the end of 2017, up from QR839bn recorded in the previous year.

Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) latest data indicated that the credit facilities to ‘general trade’ and ‘ contractors’ were flat in 2017. However, credit facility to Services sector rose by QR7bn to QR78.9bn.

While credit to outside Qatar declined by QR5n, total domestic credit grew by QR77bn to QR820bn; and the credit to public sector rose to QR341bn from QR293bn a year ago. Qatar banks’ total credit to government and private sector stood at QR644bn at the end of 2017, compared to QR605bn during the same period in the previous year. The banks’ combined assets jumped to QR1.36trillion from QR1.26trillion recorded in 2016. Deposits increased to QR823bn from QR726bn. However, the provisions rate rose to QR13bn from QR10bn.

The public sector deposits in banks saw an exponential increase of QR200bn to QR315bn in 2017, compared to the previous year. The month of November recorded the highest-QR308bn. The banks’ private sector deposit increased to QR370bn from QR357bn.

The deposits of local banks with the QCB almost doubled last year. The deposits rose to QR10.27bn, from QR5.78bn. QCB’s international reserves and foreign currency liquidity slipped to QR136bn from QR158bn in 2016.

QCB’s balances with local banks surged to QR110bn, from QR44.56bn recorded a year ago. The balances saw a steady increase during the initial months of blockade. The month of June witnessed a jump to QR87bn from the previous month’s QR39bn, before surging to QR98bn and QR94bn, in the following months, respectively. The month of September and October recorded an increase of QR101bn, each. QCB’s balances with local banks further increased to QR112bn in November and reached QR110bn in December, 2017.

The Peninsula