Doha
Despite challenging situation created by Covid-19 outbreak, Qatar’s Islamic banks have registered impressive growth in 2020.
The assets of Islamic banks grew by 8.4 percent in 2020, and deposits grew by 8.7 percent, with the private sector’s deposits accounting for 56 percent, according to Islamic Finance Report for 2020, released by Bait Al Mashura Finance Consultation.
Islamic banks issued around QR8bn worth Sukuk in 2020. The non-resident deposits staged comeback that exceeded pre-crisis rates of 2017. In 2020, financing grew by 7.9 percent and it was concentrated in government, semi-government, real estate and personal finance sectors.
Although revenues grew by 3.4 percent, profits decreased by 2.6 percent, affected by increased provisions for expected credit losses.
The profits amounted to QR6.7bn compared to QR6.9bn in 2019.
The banking sector in Qatar includes four Islamic banks out of 17 banks, including five traditional domestic commercial banks, a specialized bank (Qatar Development Bank), and seven branches of traditional foreign banks, in addition to a representative office for a foreign bank.— The Peninsula
