By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Qatar’s total money supply (M1) surged to QR130bn, or 15.9 percent, in February 2015 on year-on-year.
The country’s average movement in money supply (M2)
continued to grow by 7.9 percent to QR517bn in February this year, from QR438bn recorded a year ago.
M1 measures a country’s most liquid components of the money supply, as it contains cash and assets that can quickly be converted to currency. M2 includes savings deposits, money market mutual funds and other time deposits, which are less liquid and but can quickly converted into cash or deposits.
Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) monthly monetary bulletin for February 2015 indicates net foreign assets (NFA) of Qatar banks declined by 2.8 percent to QR114bn during the month from QR119bn recorded a year ago. In contrast, net domestic assets (NDA) jumped by 10.6 percent to QR403bn from QR364bn.
The QCB data suggested the Commercial Banks’ private sector credit surged 18.5 percent to QR358bn YoY in February this year. The banks’ private sector deposits increased by 4.1 percent to QR321bn. The combined domestic credit jumped by 5.1 percent to QR578bn, compared to QR550bn in February 2014.
Qatar banking system’s net foreign assets declined to QR114bn in February from the previous month’s QR116bn. Domestic assets slipped to QR538bn in February from the previous month’s QR539bn.
The QCB’s total assets declined to QR200bn in February from QR206bn in January 2015. QCB’s net International Reserves also declined to QR140bn from QR148bn on month-on-month.
The Commercial Banks’ total assets stood at QR991bn, down from January’s QR969bn. The Banks’ total assets crossed the one trillion thresholds in December 2014. Reuters reported Bank credit growth in Qatar slowed to an annual 5.1 percent in February, its lowest rate since at least 2007, from 5.3 percent in January. Money supply (M2) growth fell to 7.1 percent, the slowest rate since June 2014, from 7.6 percent.
The Peninsula
