Qatar's commercial banks witnessed strong loan extension to the private sector – especially services, trading and consumption segments, thus leading to a double-digit growth in domestic credit in November as Doha lifted the Covid-19-related restrictions, according to the central bank data.
Credit to trading and services sectors outpaced the total domestic credit, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data. Total domestic credit grew 10.48% year-on-year to QR1.05tn at the end of November 30, 2020.
The strong credit pick up is an indicator of the resilience in the private sector, for which the government had extended QR75bn stimulus package that included a zero-coupon QR50bn repo facility.
The commercial banks’ credit to the services sector saw an 18.51% yearly expansion to QR328.59bn, which constituted 31% of the total domestic loans this November.
The credit to the general services witnessed a 16.12% year-on-year jump to QR291.8bn, which was 89% of the total credit to the services sector.
Within the general services, credit to air transport was QR94.4bn, realty QR77.73bn, hotels QR27.89bn, non-specified QR21.56bn, engineering QR18.89bn, land transport QR16.77bn, petroleum QR7.77bn at the end of November 2020.
In the case of financial services, it registered an impressive 41.66% year-on-year surge to QR36.79bn at the end of November this year with large chunk directed towards investment companies (QR24.21bn), investment funds (QR6.61bn), non-specified (QR4.44bn) and insurance (QR1.32bn).
The banks' credit to the trading sector witnessed a 13.87% year-on-year expansion to QR159.46bn or 15% of the total domestic loans in November 2020.
Within the trading sector, as much as QR57.37bn went to the commercial agencies, QR36.03bn to non-specified, QR9.67bn to automobiles and spare parts, QR8.77bn to food products, QR8.09bn to chemicals and allied products, QR7.99bn to machinery and equipment, QR7.26bn to petroleum products, QR4.18bn to building materials and gypsum products, QR3.28bn to clothing and leather, QR3.04bn to petroleum refinery and QR2.95bn to agriculture and allied products.
The credit to the real estate was up 5.65% year-on-year to QR204.78n, which was 19% of the total domestic credit in November 2020. As much as QR79.01bn went to the developers, QR60.55bn for commercial housing and QR23.48bn for the private housing.
The consumption credit increased 7.97% year-on-year to QR147.22bn, constituting 14% of the total domestic credit in November 2020.
The consumption credit to nationals amounted to QR135.3bn, of which as much as QR73.43bn was unspecified, QR60.43bn as personal loans and auto loans to the tune of QR1.44bn.
The consumption credit to non-Qataris stood at QR11.92bn in the review period with personal loans constituting QR8.74bn, unspecified QR2.95bn and auto loans of QR0.24bn.
The credit to the industrials sector however witnessed a yearly 7.14% year-on-year decline to QR24.5bn, which was 2% of the total domestic credit in the period in review.
Within the sector, credit to the natural gas amounted to QR8.4bn, heavy industry QR7.84bn, industrial manufacturing QR5.42bn) and oil QR2.85bn in the review period.
The contracting sector witnessed a 2.83% year-on-year jump in credit to QR37.49bn or about 4% of the total domestic loans. A total of QR20.11bn went for the buildings, QR11.1bn for the non-specified segment, QR2.18bn for roads, QR1.89bn for electrical and QR1.79bn for maintenance.
The credit to the government registered a 6.85% annual expansion to QR137.76bn, which was 13% of the total domestic credit November last year.
