Pratap John

Qatar’s banking sector is undergoing broader changes, including a shift towards digital banking, which will likely see a reduction in branches and physical presence in the coming years, a new report has shown.

The number of credit accounts opened by "small business and individuals" bettered all credit accounts opened by Qatar's banking sector last year, a Qatar Central Bank report has shown.

The prospects for using lower-carbon biofuels in commercial aviation have brightened following a joint project to build what will be Europe's first large-scale plant to produce jet fuel from domestic and commercial waste.

Qatar’s financial resources will remain strong, insurance major and researcher Euler Hermes said and noted that the combined foreign exchange (FX) reserves of the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar Investment Authority represent well over 150% of the country’s annual GDP and cover more than 50 months

Median ticket size for residential houses in Qatar stood at QR2.8mn in the second quarter of this year, research and consultancy firm ValuStrat said in a report.

An unprecedented travel boom, mainly in Asia, has spawned new budget carriers and millions of first-time fliers besides the rapid expansion of some full service carriers, but a global shortage of pilots threatens to choke off that demand.

The government is actively promoting Qatar as a regional centre for financial technology (fintech) as new, cost-effective technologies are becoming increasingly prominent worldwide, the QCB said in its 10th Financial Stability Review.

The Qatar Central Bank had increased its key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps), or one percentage point, in 2018 following the hike in policy rate by the US Federal Reserve four times last year.