The year 2021 has started off on a solid footing for Doha's commercial banks as their total assets expanded faster year-on-year than the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) this January, according to the Qatar Central Bank data.
The robust double-digit growth in the domestic assets masked the decline in overseas assets as the commercial banks total assets rose 8.55% year-on-year to QR1.69tn in January 2021, indicating the sector's support to the country's economy in the review period.
The monthly Purchasing Managers' Index of the Qatar Financial Centre suggests that its January data is equivalent to GDP growth of 1.8%.
The latest report from the central bank suggests that the domestic assets constituted QR1.47tn or 87% of the total; and overseas assets at QR0.23tn or 13% of the total in the review period.
Total domestic assets were seen expanding 10.17%; while foreign assets were down 0.8% year-on-year in January 2021.
The year-on-year expansion in the total assets of the commercial lenders in the review period has been due to a robust growth trajectory especially in credit, securities portfolio (notably in debt), cash and precious metals and required reserve.
The commercial banks' total credit soared 8.09% year-on-year to QR1.15bn with domestic credit expanding 8.7% to QR1.07bn and overseas credit by 0.11% to QR74.91bn in January this year.
The commercial banks' total credit to public sector witnessed 11.55% year-on-year increase to QR388.2bn and to the private sector by 6.55% to QR744.5bn; whereas those to non-banking financial institutions declined about 1% to QR14.14bn.
The total securities portfolio, which is the second largest component of the commercial banks' assets side, witnessed 12% year-on-year jump to QR218.14bn in January 2021.
The domestic securities portfolio was seen surging 13.61% to QR199.22bn; whereas overseas securities portfolio shrank 2.52% to QR18.93bn in the review period.
Of the total QR218.14bn securities portfolio; debt (conventional) was to the extent of QR139.62bn, which grew 20.37% year-on-year; and sukuk of QR73.71bn, which was down 0.69% year-on-year in the review period.
The domestic debt shot up 25.14% on a yearly basis to QR126.94bn, while the overseas debt shrank 12.78% to QR12.69bn in January 2021.
The government’s total debt fell 3.14% year-on-year to QR98.4bn with domestic debt declining 2.12% to QR90.55bn and foreign debt by 10.9% to QR7.85bn in the review period.
The banks’ total debt shot up 45.06% year-on-year to QR7.63bn in January 2021 with their domestic debt witnessing a 30.5% growth to QR3.68bn and overseas debt by 24.44% to QR0.56bn.
However, debt issued by neither the government nor banks grew more than six-fold to QR33.59bn, mainly from the domestic side, in the review period.
The domestic sukuk was down 1.72% to QR70.42bn, while overseas sukuk grew 28.02% to QR3.29bn in January 2021.
Of the total sukuk, the government’s issuance amounted to QR68.07bn (down 2.27%), while those from the banks stood at QR4.24bn (up 29.66%) during the review period.
The commercial banks’ claim on the central bank increased by 26.15% year-on-year to QR72.31bn in January 2021, of which required reserve amounted to QR40.75bn that expanded about 8% on a yearly basis.
The commercial banks' cash and precious metals were valued at QR22.36bn in January 2021, which surged 58.47% year-on-year.
Their total claims on banks witnessed 0.29% dip year-on-year decrease to QR148.34bn this January.