Doha’s Islamic banks registered faster growth than the traditional lenders in extending the domestic credit to many sectors, except real estate, in July this year, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB).

The outperformance of the Islamic banks was notably on account of faster expansion in the domestic credit to the public sector, services, trade, consumption, contracting and industries in the review period.

Moreover, the momentum in the overall domestic credit has been due to the Qatari banks; even as there was a decline in the credit extended by the foreign banks in July 2021.

The country’s commercial banks’ overall domestic credit had grown 13.55% year-on-year to QR1.16tn with Qatari lenders registering 13.79% increase to QR1.14tn; whereas those by foreign banks were down 2.19% to QR15.17bn in July 2021.

Within the Qatari lenders, the domestic credit by traditional lenders rose 11.3% to QR799.26bn and that by the Islamic banks shot up 20.48% to QR336.37bn in the review period. The domestic credit extended by specialised institutions was up 3.08% to QR7.36bn.

In the case of foreign banks, the domestic credit extended by them declined 2.19% to QR15.17bn this July. The credit extended by Arab and non-Arab banks were down 0.16% and 3.59% to QR6.31bn and QR8.86bn respectively in the review period.

The domestic credit by all banks to the public sector soared 27.22% to QR412.47bn with that by Qatari banks growing 27.21% to QR409.91bn and foreign banks by 27.86% to QR2.57bn.

Within Qatari banks, the domestic credit by traditional lenders to the public sector expanded 23.7% to QR314bn and that by Islamic banks by 40.29% to QR95.9bn in the review period.

In the case of services, the domestic credit extended to the sector by all the banks grew by 11.85% to QR208.45bn with that by Qatari banks rising 12.28% to QR206.72bn, while that by foreign banks shrinking 23.45% to QR1.73bn in July 2021.

Within the Qatari banks, the domestic credit extended by traditional lenders to the services shot up 12.18% to QR167.02bn and Islamic banks by 14.24% to QR36.67bn, while that by specialised entities were down 2.88% to QR3.03bn this July.

The real estate sector saw the domestic credit extended by all banks was up 4.78% to QR159.27bn in July 2021. The domestic credit extended by Qatari banks rose 4.96% to QR158.47bn, whereas that by foreign banks shrank 22.33% to QR0.8bn.

Within the Qatari banks, the domestic credit extended by the traditional lenders to the realty sector soared 14.75% to QR109.21bn; whereas that by Islamic banks was down 0.45% to QR55.56bn in the review period.

In the case of general trade, the domestic credit extended by all banks increased by 7.81% to QR156.21bn with that by Qatari banks growing 8.16% to QR150.95bn; while that by foreign banks eased 1.5% to QR5.26bn in the review period.

Within the Qatari banks, the domestic credit extended by traditional lenders to general trade rose 6.26% to QR119.3bn and Islamic banks by 15.84% to QR31.08bn in July 2021.

The commercial banks’ domestic credit to the consumption sector rose 8.68% to QR152.72bn with Qatari banks witnessing 8.86% growth to QR151.31bn; while foreign banks reporting 7.84% decline to QR1.41bn this July.

Within Qatari banks, the domestic consumption loans by traditional lenders saw 15.73% shrinkage to QR58.08bn; while that by Islamic banks shot up 33.03% to QR93.23bn in the review period.

In the case of industrials, the domestic credit extended by all banks stood at QR25.68bn, which rose 12.04% on yearly basis in July 2021.

The Qatari banks’ domestic credit to the industrials sector rose 12.03% to QR25.14bn with traditional lenders reporting 11.7% expansion to QR13.27bn, Islamic banks by 15.69% to QR8.11bn and specialised institutions by 5.62% to QR3.76bn in the review period.

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