Mubasher: Qatar’s foreign reserves slid 22% year-on-year to QAR 131.47 billion ($35.73 billion) in October 2017, compared to QAR 168.15 billion ($45.7 billion) in the same period last year, the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) said on Sunday.
The foreign reserves increased 1.2% month-on-month in October from QAR 129.6 billion in September 2017, according to the bank’s monthly bulletin.
The rise was attributed to the hike of banks' balance by 15.2% to QAR 41.5 billion in October, up from QAR 36.1 billion in the month earlier.
The central bank’s investment in treasury bills and bonds declined 19.2% month-on-month to QAR 14.7 billion, the report said.
Qatar’s foreign reserves included liquid foreign assets of QAR 69.3 billion, in addition to QAR 4.4 billion of gold and QAR 1.4 billion of deposits and special drawing rights (SDR) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Qatari foreign reserves have fallen by around QAR 35.06 billion ($9.5 billion) in the May - October period after four Arab countries cut their diplomatic ties with the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas Last June, according to the report.
