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Qatar Central Bank

Qatar Central Bank Overview

Originally known as the Qatar Monetary Agency, the Qatar Central Bank’s main aims are to preserve the value of money and maintain monetary stability, as well as regulate, control, and supervise financial services and markets in Qatar.

The Qatar Central Bank oversees critical sectors, including currency issuance, banking regulation and financial stability.

The Qatar Central Bank Investment Funds Law allows for the creation and regulation of investment funds for financial securities, real estate, and development projects.

Qatar Central Bank News

The still-developing Lusail district in Doha. Real-estate sales in Qatar fell 15% between June and September year on year

Qatar’s real-estate buyers wait on lower interest rates

Consumer expectations that interest rates will continue decreasing in the coming months appear to have dented Qatar’s residential real-estate market growth in the third quarter of this year. Mortgage transactions fell 10 percent in Qatar from July to September over the previous three months, and 8.5 percent over the same period last year, according to […]

Customer deposits at QNB at the end of June were up 6 percent year on year to QR891 billion

QNB proposes first interim dividend in 60 years

Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest Gulf bank by assets, has proposed to distribute the first-ever interim dividend in six decades after strong retained earnings and sufficient regulatory reserves. The board plans to pay a 33 percent interim dividend, or QR0.33 per share, payable to shareholders on record at the close of trading on July […]

Souq Waqif in Qatar. The country's tourism plans including shopping festivals as part of plans to reach increase visitor numbers to 6 million by 2030

Qatar visitors increase by half in February

Qatar reported a 53 percent increase in international visitors in February, according to official figures from the country’s tourism authority. It follows a 106 percent rise in international arrivals in January as Qatar builds towards its ambitious target to welcome six million visitors in 2030. Last year Qatar’s visitor numbers passed four million. In February […]

QNB Group headquarters in Doha. The bank's board of directors proposed a dividend of QR0.65 per share for 2023

Qatar National Bank’s profit rises 8% to $4.14bn in 2023

Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest Gulf bank by assets, said 2023 net profit rose eight percent to QR15.5 billion ($4.14 billion), driven by loan growth and higher operating income. Operating income jumped 11 percent year on year to QR39.1 billion, the bank said in a statement. Total assets stood at QR1.23 trillion by the […]

The Central Bank of the UAE maintained its base rate on overnight deposit facility at 5.4%

UAE and Qatar keep rates steady in line with US Fed

The central banks of the UAE and Qatar have followed the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. The Central Bank of the UAE maintained its base rate on overnight deposit facility at 5.4 percent, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported. The central bank also decided to maintain the interest rate on […]

Traders at the Qatar Stock Exchange. The country's cryptocurrency legislation is expected early next year

Qatar makes belated entry into crypto tokens market

Qatar’s financial regulators have proposed a new digital assets framework which seeks to regulate investment tokens. In contrast to its Gulf neighbours like the UAE and Bahrain, which have opened their doors to global cryptocurrency exchanges, Qatar has maintained a ban on trading. But legal insiders say Qatar’s delayed entry into the virtual assets arena […]

Qatar National Bank's total assets stood at QR1.18 trillion at the end of September, up four percent year on year

Qatar National Bank profit up 8% on high loan growth

Qatar National Bank (QNB), the Gulf’s biggest bank by assets, reported an 8 percent increase in third-quarter 2023 net profit to QR4.31 billion ($1.18 billion) from QR3.99 billion a year earlier, spurred by higher loan growth. Net profit reached QR11.9 billion, up eight percent year on year in the first nine months of 2023, as […]

Qatar Central Bank, Doha

Qatari Islamic banks set for rebound on high demand

Islamic banking made up 25 percent of total banking sector assets in Qatar in the first quarter of 2023, slipping from 27 percent in the same period a year earlier. This makes the Gulf state the fifth-largest Islamic banking market globally, Fitch Ratings said. The ratings agency expects the market share to increase overall in […]

City, Urban, Downtown

Gulf central banks mirror US Fed by halting rate hike

The Central Bank of the UAE and Qatar Central Bank have decided to maintain interest rates after the US Federal Reserve board announced it will keep the key borrowing rates unchanged. The UAE’s central bank will hold the base rate applicable to the overnight deposit facility steady at 5.15 percent as of Thursday 15 June, the […]

PIF Zamil Offshore exploration

Oil and gas account for 92% of Qatar’s Q1 budget surplus

Qatar recorded a budget surplus of QAR19.7 billion ($5.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, driven primarily by revenue from oil and gas, the finance ministry said. Total revenue for Q1 2023 hit QAR68.6 billion, of which QAR63.4 billion – 92 percent – was from oil and gas, the state-run Qatar News Agency said, […]