Qatar’s banking sector assets up 0.3% to $511bln in February

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Qatar’s banking sector loan book edged up by 0.1 percent MoM (down 0.7 percent in 2023) and deposits declined by 1.0 percent MoM (-4.9 percent in 2023) in February 2023. Both the private and public sectors pushed the overall credit higher. As deposits fell by 1.0 percent in February, the LDR rose to 131.2 percent vs. 129.6 percent in January 2023.

The overall loan book went up by 0.1 percent in February 2023. Domestic private sector loans moved up by 0.1 percent MoM (+0.2 percent in 2023) in February 2023. The Real Estate segment was the main contributor towards the private sector loan gain. Real Estate segment (contributes ~23 percent to private sector loans) moved higher by 2.0 percent MoM (+1.7 percent in 2023), while General Trade (contributes ~21 percent to private sector loans) moved up by 0.1 percent MoM (+0.8 percent in 2023).

However, consumption and others (contributes ~20 percent to private sector loans) went down by 0.9 percent MoM (-0.6 percent in 2023), while services (contributes ~29 percent to private sector loans) was lower by 0.2 percent MoM (-0.6 percent in 2023) in February 2023.

Total public sector loans increased by 0.3 percent MoM (-2.8 percent in 2023). The government institutions’ segment (represents ~67 percent of public sector loans) loan book gained 0.4 percent MoM (+1.5 percent in 2023), while the government segment (represents ~28 percent of public sector loans) added 0.3 percent MoM (-12.1 percent in 2023). However, the semi-government institutions’ segment declined by 1.2% MoM (-0.6 percent in 2023). Outside Qatar loans contracted by 0.8 percent MoM (-0.2 percent in 2023) during the month of February 2023.

The non-resident deposits continue to move downwards and dropped a further 6.4 percent MoM (-8.9% in 2023) in February 2023.

Private sector deposits declined by 0.8 percent MoM (-1.1 percent in 2023) in February 2023. On the private sector front, the companies & institutions’ segment dropped by 2.8 percent MoM (-4.1 percent in 2023). However, the consumer segment increased by 1.1 percent MoM (+1.9 percent in 2023) during February 2023.

Public sector deposits increased by 1.8 percent MoM (-7.7 percent in 2023) for the month of February 2023. Looking at segment details, government institutions’ segment (represents ~59 percent of public sector deposits) moved up 3.6% MoM (-2.6 percent in 2023), while the government segment (represents ~27 percent of public sector deposits) went up by 3.4 percent MoM (-18.5 percent in 2023).

However, the semi-government institutions’ segment fell by 7.2 percent MoM (-4.7 percent in 2023) in February 2023.

Qatar Banking Sector Loan Provisions to Gross Loans was at 3.6 percent in February 2023, similar to that of January 2023 and the banking sector liquid assets to total assets was at 30.3 percent in February 2023, compared to 30.2 percent in January 2023.