Qatar’s broad money supply reaches QR381.1bn in Dec

In what is seen as an indication of domestic liquidity, Qatar’s broad money supply (M2) reached QR381.1bn in December 2012, up 27.2% year-on-year with lift off provided by foreign currency demand deposits with commercial banks, a QNB study shows. The total domestic deposits with Qatar banks reached QR458bn in 2012, up 26% on the previous year. The public sector again was the key growth driver for overall gains in the banking sector deposits. Deposits received from the public sector shot up by 43.6% (QR54.8bn) in 2012 and came mainly in the form of long-term foreign currency deposits. Non-resident deposits went up by 105.3% (QR20.9bn) in 2012, while private sector deposits moved up by 8.6% (QR18.7bn). The deposits of conventional banks increased by 23.3% in 2012 and accounted for 69% of overall deposits, while that of Islamic banks went up by 39.8% and its share increased to 27% of overall banking sector deposits. Foreign banks deposits were marginally up by 0.3%. The report indicated that for major Asian countries — Japan, South Korea, India and China remained the top export destinations for Qatar. Combined, they accounted for exports worth QR73.5bn ($20.2bn) in the third quarter of 2012, driven mainly by liquefied natural gas contracts. Japan remained Qatar’s top destination with QR32bn ($8.8bn) in the third quarter of last year. South Korea accounted for about QR21.8bn ($6bn), India QR12.3bn ($3.4bn) and China QR7.28bn ($2bn). The EEC accounted for most of Qatari imports and accounted for QR5.8bn ($1.7bn) in the third quarter. The other major import sources for Qatar in Q3, 2012 were the US QR2.5bn ($0.7bn), China QR1.09bn ($0.3bn), Japan QR1.45bn ($0.4bn) and the UAE QR2.9bn ($0.8bn). Qatari exports to China are continuously rising and have increased by 85% y-o-y on the back of new LNG contracts. According to QNB, the country’s exports to Japan have shown a 22.6% increase y-o-y, South Korea 24% y-o-y and India 3.7% y-o-y. Outside of Asia, the major export destination for Qatar was the European Economic Community in the third quarter. EEC accounted for QR9.5bn ($2.6bn) Qatari exports in the third quarter of last year. Qatar’s oil production averaged 728,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, which shows a decline of 1.9% y-o-y, said to be due to Opec quota restrictions. The Qatari crude averaged $110 per barrel in January, which shows a decline of 2.2% y-o-y.