Qatar Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves totalled $48.4bn in November, a 2.2% increase month-on-month, a new report by QNB has shown. 
This, QNB said, equates to 8.7 months of import cover.
The country’s crude oil production marginally ticked down to 599,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November from 609,000bpd in October, QNB said in its latest ‘Qatar Monthly Monitor’.
Brent crude prices dropped to average $57.7 for a barrel in December, it said.
QNB data showed Qatar’s trade balance was up 6.6% year-on-year in December. 
The fiscal account surplus widened to 3.5% of GDP in the second quarter due to higher oil prices. 
The current account surplus has widened further in the third quarter of 2018, the report said.
December saw an increase in local banks’ assets and credit, while deposit growth fell marginally, according to QNB. Banks’ asset growth was 4.6% y-o-y in November while credit growth stood at 2.1%, QNB said.
Private sector and public sector and non-resident deposits grew 0.5%, 3.5% and 2.9% respectively m-o-m in December, the report showed.
Interbank rates ticked up following global monetary tightening as of January 25.
Qatar’s sovereign 5-year CDS spreads remained stable at around 75 bps (0.75%), while QIBOR and LIBOR three-month interest rates got stabilised after converging.
Broad money supply (M2) declined 4.6% year-on-year in November, the report showed.
Money supply is defined as the total quantity of money circulating in the economy at a particular time. M2 is a key economic indicator used to forecast inflation.
Real GDP growth accelerated in the third quarter of 2018 on the back of a stabilisation in hydrocarbon output, QNB said. 
Construction and finance and real estate led the way for a 4.3% growth in non-hydrocarbon GDP in Q3, 2018.
CPI inflation was broadly flat in December, QNB said.
The 5-star and 4-star hotel occupancy rates remained stable in November at 56% and 61% respectively.
Qatar’s population increased 1.2% y-o-y to stand at 2.67mn in December; women made up 24.6% of the population, QNB report said.