Credit expansion helps drive Qatar banks' foreign assets growth

Foreign assets of Qatar’s banks grew by 6% year-on-year in February, driven by expansion in credit (21.3%); while domestic assets grew by 13.8%, driven by the growth in domestic credit (17.1%), shows a QNB report.
Total asset growth fell to 11.7% in February from 14.7% in January, QNB said in its ‘Qatar Economic Monitor’.
“We expect bank assets to continue growing, driven by lending related to investment projects and population growth,” QNB said.
Bank loan growth fell slightly to 17.6% year-on-year in February 2016 from 18.3% in January, it said. Loans to the public sector grew by 14.5% year-on-year; lending to the private and foreign sectors also grew by 18.7% and 21.3% respectively.
“We forecast bank lending to continue growing, driven by lending related to investment projects and population growth,” QNB said.
Growth in bank deposits fell in February on the slowdown in private-sector deposit growth, the report said.
Bank deposits' year-on-year growth fell to 6.2% in February from 9.1% in January. Public sector deposits contracted by 9.7%, private sector deposits and non-resident deposits grew by 4.9% and 79.1% respectively.
QNB expects deposits to continue growing on strong population growth.
Overnight interbank rates fell to 1.18% on average in February 2016 from 1.51% in January, QNB said.
The one-week interbank rate fell by 24 basis points to 1.12% in February, the one-month interbank rate rose by 19 basis points to 1.63% and the one-year interbank rate fell by 75 basis points to 2%, QNB said.
QNB said Qatar's overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of $2.9bn in Q4, 2015, leading to a decrease in international reserves. The current account surplus narrowed further to $0.9bn in Q4, 2015 on lower hydrocarbon exports; the capital and financial account recorded a deficit of $4.4bn over the same period.
For 2015, the current account registered a surplus of $13.8bn, while the capital and financial account recorded a deficit of $19.7bn, QNB said.