The current oil price rates support the recovery of Qatar’s economy (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)
Governor said Qatar Central Bank Bandar bin Mohammed Al Thani, today, Sunday, that international institutions expect higher growth in domestic product The Qatari total is within 3.5% during the current year, pointing to the establishment of the necessary infrastructure to enable Banks In Qatar, to accept payments from digital wallets, and launch a new strategy for financial technology during the last quarter of this year.
He added, in a speech during the Euromoney Qatar Conference at its ninth session held in Doha, that the Qatari economic activity is recovering, driven by several factors, including the recovery of domestic demand, the growth of private sector credit, and preparations to host the FIFA World Cup (Qatar 2022 World Cup).
The Governor of Qatar Bank considered that his country’s economic activity today is much stronger than it was in 2020, pointing out that Qatar occupies a distinguished position as one of the world’s leading countries in the production and export of clean energy represented by liquefied natural gas, which gives confidence to plan for the future.
On the difficulty of the challenges that the financial sector has witnessed in recent periods, Bandar bin Mohammed said that Qatari banks still enjoy a good amount of capitalization, high liquidity and maintaining asset quality, and the profitability of banks has remained stable, while the percentage of non-performing loans is still considered among the lowest in the world. Region.
He explained that banks were able to support their customers and borrowers during the Corona pandemic, which confirms the strength and effectiveness of banking systems supported by the regulatory and supervisory framework.
According to the results of the positive data achieved by the economy, and the banking sector in particular, when evaluating the last stage, the Qatari Central Bank decided to start the phase of gradual exit from the measures to support the banking sector, and Al Thani indicated that a plan was developed to end the facilities provided by the Central Bank to banks at the end of this year, in conjunction With the interim assessment of the banks’ situation, it also raised interest rates in line with the policy of maintaining the exchange rate.
The Governor of the Qatar Central Bank warned that the expectation of oil prices to remain at their current average rates will support the continued recovery in the country’s economic growth in the medium term, allowing the absorption of the financial tightening cycle that has already begun by most central banks around the world.
The conference, organized by the Qatar Central Bank under the slogan “Strategy and Finance in the New Global Scene”, will discuss global and regional economic and financial trends, and what they mean for Qatar and its financial sector, as well as topics related to environmental and social governance, corporate governance, climate change, and developments in the field of digitization and technology. and financial services.
He pointed out that the conference poses great challenges represented in proper planning for the future, as the past two years have witnessed events that indicate how difficult it is to predict the future, and the importance of the readiness and proactiveness of central banks to face these challenges.
green bonds
In turn, the CEO of Commercial Bank of Qatar, Joseph Abraham, said during one of the conference sessions that the bank is keen to issue green bonds if it can guarantee 100% compliance with the green credentials.
In addition, the director of asset management at the Qatari “Investment House” company, Walid Al-Fuqaha, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the declines in the global stock markets, we did not see in the Qatari financial market, which witnessed disciplined declines, and therefore price corrections are nothing more. In light of the interest rates environment, where the Qatar Stock Exchange index rose, supported by the rise in global oil prices and local economic growth rates at good rates.
Regarding the digital development in the banking sector, the jurists said that the first session of the conference touched on launching a digital platform in Qatar by the end of this year, which supports exchanges through central digital currencies.
The Euromoney Conference is one of the annual meetings that Qatar witnesses in the financial sector, and has been absent for the past two years due to the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, and is organized by Euromoney Conferences, which is active in organizing conferences and events related to financial affairs in developing and developed markets, and it is an affiliate of the “Euromoney Institutional Investor”. Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC Limited, incorporated in 1969 and listed on the London Stock Exchange.