Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Total assets of Qatar’s banking sector in January this year stood at QR1.856 trillion, registering a decline of 2.5 percent MoM and up 4.2 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, QNB Financial Services (QNBFS) has said in a report released on Tuesday.
According to the report, the total loan book of Qatar’s banking Sector went down by 0.9 percent MoM and up 3.3 percent in 2022, and deposits dropped by 3.9 percent MoM (+2.6 percent in 2022) in the month of January 2023.
The public sector pushed the overall credit lower by 3.1 percent MoM in January, the report said adding that the deposits fell by 3.9 percent in January, while the LDR shot up to 129.6 percent against 125.7 percent in December 2022.
The overall loan book went down by 0.9 percent in January 2023. Total public sector loans dropped by 3.1 percent MoM and 1.4 percent in 2022. In the government segment, which represents 28 percent of public sector loans, credit fell by 12.4 percent MoM and 18.4 percent in 2022.
However, the government institutions’ segment which represents 67 percent of public sector loans saw loan book increase by 1.1 percent MoM and 9.7 percent in 2022, while the semi-government institutions’ segment moved up by 0.6 percent MoM and went down 2.3 percent in 2022.
Domestic private sector loans edged up marginally by 0.01 percent MoM and went up 7.4 percent in 2022 in January 2023. General Trade and Consumption & Others segments were the main contributors toward the private sector loan marginal gain.
General Trade, which contributes 21 percent to private sector loans, went up by 0.7 percent MoM and 3.5 percent in 2022, while Consumption & Others which contributes 20 percent to private sector loans moved up by 0.3 percent MoM and 2.6 percent in 2022.
However, services that contribute 29 percent to private sector loans declined by 0.4 percent MoM and 11.3 percent in 2022, while the Real Estate segment that contributes 23 percent to private sector loans moved lower by 0.2 percent MoM and 15.2 percent in 2022 in January 2023.
Outside Qatar, loans increased by 0.7 percent MoM during the month of January 2023.
As per the report, public sector deposits fell by 9.4 percent MoM and 20.7 percent in 2022 for the month of January 2023.
Looking at segment details, the government segment represents 26 percent of public sector deposits had a steep slide of 21.2 percent MoM and an increase of 4.9 percent in 2022, while the government institutions’ segment which represents 58 percent of public sector deposits declined by 6 percent MoM and increased 28.4 percent in 2022.
However, the semi-government institutions’ segment moved up by 2.7 percent MoM and 31.8 percent in 2022.
In January 2023, private sector deposits moved down by 0.3 percent MoM and increased by 13.2 percent in 2022.
On the private sector front, the companies and institutions segment declined by 1.3 percent MoM and increased by 23.7 percent in 2022. However, the consumer segment increased by 0.8 percent MoM and 4.4 percent in 2022 during January 2023.
Non-resident deposits continued their slide from the previous year with a drop by 2.6 percent MoM in January 2023, after declining by 31.4 percent for 2022.
Qatar banking sector provisions to gross loans were at 3.6 percent in January 2023, compared to 3.5 percent in December 2022.
Qatar’s banking sector liquid assets to total assets were at 30.2 percent in January 2023, compared to 31.2 percent in December 2022.
