Qatar’s banking sector went through a period of reorganisation after the illegal blockade of the country, which resulted in greater co-ordination among local banks, senior banker Nisar Ahmed Rana told Qatar Urdu Radio’s live show Haqeeqat yesterday.
“Among the blockading countries only Saudi Arabia and the UAE had substantial deposits here. They thought if they withdrew their deposits from banks, Qatar’s economy will collapse but they failed in their goals,” Rana remarked.
“Qatar has strong reserves worth more than $350bn, it has the highest per capita income in the world and most banks here have high grade ranking as per international standards, which reflects their ability to manage a financial crisis. It is not easy to bring down a system that has such strong foundations.
“The co-ordination between local banks also strengthened after the crisis. Qatar Central Bank policies to regulate banks also helped. It was
clear from the first day of the crisis that the government wanted to deal it as an opportunity and move towards self-reliance as a matter of policy rather than dealing with it as a crisis,” he added.
Haqeeqat, which aims to engage and interact with the large South Asian expatriate community in Qatar, is a joint venture of Gulf Times and Qatar Media Corporation Urdu Radio. It is broadcast from Sunday to Thursday on FM107. The show is hosted by Saif-ur-Rehman.
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