The credit to the government and consumption sectors was seen outpacing the overall loan growth in Qatar's commercial banks on a yearly basis in March this year, according to the central bank data.
The credit to the real estate sector, which is the second largest component in the credit portfolio of the commercial banks, saw a robust growth; hinting at the rebound of the non-hydrocarbons private sector.
The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data showed that total domestic credit grew 8.64% year-on-year to QR1.1tn at the end of March 31, 2021.
The strong credit pick up is an indicator of the resilience in the private sector, whose growth has been corroborated by the purchasing managers' index of the Qatar Financial Centre.
The commercial banks' credit to the government grew the fastest at 22.08% on a yearly basis to QR165.44bn in March 2021, which constituted more than 15% of the total credit in the review period.
The consumption loans were seen expanding at 13.49% year-on-year to QR155.43bn in March 2021. The consumption credit to nationals amounted to QR144.63bn, which grew 18.42%; while that to non-Qataris shrank 27.51% to QR10.75bn.
The auto loans to Qataris and non-Qataris were seen declining 31.35% and 26.67% year-on-year respectively to QR1.27bn and QR0.22bn this March.
The personal loans to Qataris and non-Qataris fell 16.09% and 25.96% year-on-year to QR48.77bn and QR8.07bn respectively in the review period.
The credit to the real estate was up 7.31% year-on-year to QR210.4bn, which was more than 19% of the total domestic credit in March 2021. A total of QR81.34bn was extended to developers, QR60.6bn to commercial housing, QR30.36bn to non-specified segment and QR11.6bn to land.
The commercial banks’ credit to the services sector saw an 8.25% yearly growth to QR337.09bn, which constituted more than 31% of the total domestic loans in March this year.
The credit to the general services witnessed an 8.16% year-on-year jump to QR300.35bn, which was 89% of the total credit to the services sector in the review period.
Within the general services, credit to air transport was QR102.5bn, realty QR79.42bn, hotels QR29.24bn, non-specified QR18.1bn, engineering QR18.02bn, land transport QR16.95bn, petroleum QR7.86bn, sea transport QR5.94bn, communication and telecom QR5.38bn and tourism QR5.38bn at the end of March 2021.
Financial services registered an 8.96% year-on-year surge to QR36.74bn at the end of March this year with a vast majority being directed towards investment companies (QR24.34bn), investment funds (QR6.24bn), non-specified (QR4.35bn) and insurance (QR1.5bn).
The banks' credit to the trading sector witnessed a 2.71% year-on-year jump to QR159.39bn, or more than 14% of the total domestic loans in March 2021.
Within the trading sector, as much as QR57.92bn went to the commercial agencies, QR34.13bn to non-specified, QR10.14bn to automobiles and spare parts, QR9.03bn to food products, QR8.23bn to machinery and equipment, QR8.18bn to chemical and allied products, QR7.38bn to petroleum products, QR3.75bn to building materials and gypsum products, QR3.09bn to petroleum refinery, QR2.97bn to agriculture and allied products and QR2.9bn to clothing and leather.
The contracting sector witnessed a 4.49% year-on-year jump in credit to QR39.3bn, or about 4% of the total domestic loans. A total of QR19.97bn went for the buildings, QR12.92bn for the non-specified segment, QR2.11bn for electrical, QR2.02bn for roads and QR1.86bn for maintenance.
Nevertheless, the credit to the industrials sector witnessed a yearly 8.05% year-on-year decline to QR25.26bn, which was more than 2% of the total domestic credit in the period in review.
Within the sector, credit to the natural gas amounted to QR8.57bn, heavy industry QR8.53bn, industrial manufacturing QR5.47bn and oil QR2.69bn in the review period.
 
 
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