Qatar banking sector total assets up 0.6% month-on-month to QR1.891tn in April: QNBFS

Qatar banking sector total assets up 0.6% month-on-month to QR1.891tn in April: QNBFS

Qatar banking sector total assets grew 0.6% month-on-month (MoM), down 0.7% so far in 2023, in April to reach QR1.891tn, QNB Financial Services (QNBFS) said in a report on Tuesday.

Total loans provided by Qatari banks went down 0.4% MoM to QR1, 249.5bn, while deposits contracted by 0.3% to QR964.2bn in April.

According to QNBFS, the country’s private sector pushed the overall credit lower.

Loans have edged down by 0.5% in 2023, compared to a growth of 3.3% in 2022. Loans grew by an average 6.7% over the past five years (2018-2022).

Loan provisions to gross loans was at 3.7% in both April and March of this year.

The deposits slide in April was mainly due to a drop by 1.5% in the private sector. Deposits have gone down by 3.5% in 2023, compared to a growth of 2.6% in 2022. Deposits grew by an average 4% over the past five years (2018-2022), QNBFS said and noted that as deposits moved down by 0.3% in April, the loans to deposits ratio (LDR) declined to 129.6% compared with 129.7% in March.

The overall loan book went down 0.4% in April. Domestic private sector loans moved down by 0.6% MoM (+0.2% in 2023) in April.

The services segment was