By: Eman Ghali
Mubasher: Qatar’s banking sector has been affected negatively during the first anniversary of the gas-rich nation’s diplomatic crisis with four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia.
On 5 June 2017, four Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the UAE, decided to cut off diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing the GCC nation of financing terrorism. Doha forcefully denies the charges. Since then, Qatar suffered strong outflows and its tourism sector has also suffered over the previous year as the number of GCC visitors dropped.
Doha bank’s suffered a drop in foreign reserves and liquidity.
Qatar's foreign reserves dropped 13.7% year-on-year, or QAR 22.98 billion ($6.31 billion), in April 2018, while non-resident deposits at Qatar went down 26.05% year-on-year in the same period.
The diplomatic rift propelled some Gulf banks to withdraw their deposits from the Qatari banks.
Cash reserve
Reserves and liquidity of the world's richest country per capita declined 13.7% to $39.7 billion in April 2018, compared to $46 billion in the same month a year earlier, according to the Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB).
Qatar’s reserves went down by $5.5 during the first month of the geopolitical crisis.
Translated by: Kholoud Mohamed Hussein
