Trading and services sectors saw strong backing from Qatar’s commercial banks, with them reporting a double-digit growth in credit received in July, as the country mitigates the risks to the private sector from the Covid-19 pandemic, the central bank figures suggest.
The credit to these sectors outpaced the total domestic credit, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data. Total domestic credit stood at QR1.01tn at the end of July 31, 2020.
The services sector saw a 34.46% yearly growth in credit to QR327.54bn, which constituted 32% of the total domestic loans this July.
The credit to the general services witnessed a 32.58% year-on-year increase to QR291.3bn, which was 89% of the total credit to the services sector.
Within the general services, credit to air transport was QR91.61bn, realty QR74.94bn, hotels QR27.61bn, non-specified QR22.24bn, land transport QR20.24bn, engineering QR19.19bn and petroleum QR9.79bn at the end of July 2020.
In the case of financial services, it registered an impressive 51.7% growth to QR36.24bn at the end of July this year with large chunk directed towards investment companies (QR23.62bn), investment funds (QR6.56bn) and insurance (QR1.39bn).
The banks' credit to the trading sector witnessed a 22.31% year-on-year surge to QR160.07bn or 16% of the total domestic loans in July 2020.
Of the QR160.07bn credit to the trading sector, as much as QR56.16bn went to the commercial agencies, QR37.01bn to non-specified, QR10.04bn to automobiles and spare parts, QR8.57bn to food products, QR8.26bn to petroleum products, QR8.21bn to chemical and allied products, QR4.25bn to building materials and gypsum products, QR3.5bn to clothing and leather, QR2.93bn to petroleum refinery and QR2.9bn to agriculture and allied products.
The credit to the real estate was up less than 1% to QR201.7bn, which was 20% of the total domestic credit in July 2020. As much as QR77.73bn went to the developers, QR59.86bn for commercial housing and QR25.54bn for the private housing.
The consumption credit increased 7.96% year-on-year to QR140.52bn, constituting 14% of the total domestic credit in July 2020.
The consumption credit to nationals amounted to QR127.35bn, of which as much as QR65.99bn was unspecified, QR59.71bn as personal loans and auto loans to the tune of QR1.64bn.
The consumption credit to non-Qataris stood at QR13.17bn in the review period with personal loans constituting QR9.68bn, unspecified QR3.24bn and auto loans of QR0.26bn.
The credit to the industrials sector witnessed a yearly 6.67% year-on-year growth to QR27.81bn, which was 3% of the total domestic credit in the period in review.
Within the sector, credit to the heavy industry stood at QR11.19bn, natural gas (QR8.53bn), industrial manufacturing (QR5.04bn) and oil (QR3.05bn).
The contracting sector witnessed a 5.73% year-on-year jump in credit to QR38.76bn or about 4% of the total domestic loans. A total of QR19.71bn went for the buildings, QR12.41bn for the non-specified segment, QR2.66bn for roads, QR1.91bn for electrical and QR1.75bn for maintenance.
However, the credit to the government registered a 16.86% annual shrinkage to QR104.72bn, which was 10% of the total domestic credit this July.