Qatar’s foreign exchange reserves gained 1.7% month-on-month (m-o-m) to reach $46.5bn in September, QNB has said in its latest ‘Qatar Monthly Monitor.’

The Qatar Central Bank’s forex reserves in end-September equated to seven months of import cover, QNB said.

According to QNB, Qatari banks’ asset growth was 5% year-on-year (y-o-y) in October.

Bank deposit growth was 1.5% y-o-y while credit growth was 2.7% in October.

Private sector deposits grew 1.2% m-o-m in October, while the public sector and non-resident deposits declined 4.5% and 1.7% respectively.

Inter-bank rates went slightly up in September following global monetary tightening, QNB noted.

Qatar Inter-bank Offered Rates (QIBOR) and London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor) three-month interest rates converged further, it said.

Qatar Sovereign five-year credit default swap (CDS) spreads remained stable at around 75 bps.

Qatar’s fiscal account surplus widened to 3.5% of GDP in the second quarter (Q2) due to higher oil prices.

In Q2, the country’s current account surplus “widened” while net capital and financial flows were “positive”.

Exports grew 30.2% y-o-y in September as a result of higher oil prices, while imports grew 37.0%, QNB said.

Broad money supply grew marginally by 0.1% in September.

Brent crude prices rose to an average of $80.6 for a barrelin October; Qatar’s oil production fell to 570,000 bpd in September from 612,000 bpd in August.

In terms of Qatar’s economic activity, QNB said, the country’s real GDP growth picked up in Q2.

Non-hydrocarbon GDP growth was a solid 6.1% y-o-y.

Booming construction output, up 15.3% y-o-y, remained the key driver of activity in the non-hydrocarbon sector. Manufacturing gained 14.1%.

CPI inflation was broadly flat at -0.4% in September; housing inflation slightly picked up.

Industrial Production rose 4.7% in August from 1.4% the previous month, ‘Qatar Monthly Monitor’ said.

The real estate price index is signalling prices are stabilising, QNB said. The 5-star and 4-star hotel occupancy rates stabilised in September to stand at 54% and 60% respectively, QNB said.

Qatar’s population increased 2.8% y-o-y to stand at 2.74mn in October; women made up close to 25.5% of the population, QNB said.