Doha, (Business News Report)|| Qatar’s foreign reserves grew last May for the 51st month in a row, in light of the rise in oil and gas prices and tourism boom ahead of the World Cup.
The Bank of Qatar also said that Qatar’s foreign reserves rose last May by 2.85% on an annual basis to 211 billion riyals ($57.9 billion), compared to 205.2 billion riyals in May 2021.
In turn, the economic advisor, Ramzi Qasmieh, said that the growth of Qatar’s foreign reserves for the 51st consecutive month, under the weight of the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine, reflects the strength of the Qatari economy.
Qasmieh explained that Qatar’s share of investment in foreign bonds and treasury bills, especially US, rose on an annual basis to about 115.3 billion riyals, as well as the increase in deposits and special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund by 167%.
Qatar’s balances with foreign banks decreased by 61.68%, recording 20.8 billion riyals, and the gold reserves fell 2.53% to 12.3 billion riyals.
On the impact of the growth of foreign reserves on the Qatar Stock Exchange, Ramzy says that there is no direct reflection of foreign reserves on the stock market, but it enhances confidence in the overall Qatari economy.
He pointed out that the Qatar Stock Exchange index is moving in a tangential movement, and there is a discrepancy in performance between the industrial sector, which has achieved gains of about 23%, the transportation sector 20% since the beginning of this year, and the banking sector, which has lost part of its gains since the beginning of last May, in addition to an improvement in the values of And trading volumes supported by the rise in energy and gas prices in particular.
The economic advisor expects the index and performance to improve during the third quarter, with the start of the financial results of the listed companies starting to come in for the second quarter, in addition to an increase in the weights of some Qatari companies in international reviews, such as the FTSE index of global stocks.
With the rise in global oil and gas prices, international institutions expect higher GDP growth for the State of Qatar in 2022 in the range of 3.5%, according to the Governor of the Qatar Central Bank, Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani.
The governor of the bank also confirmed before the ninth Euromoney conference in Doha at the end of May, that the Qatari economic activity is recovering, driven by several factors, including the recovery of domestic demand, the growth of private sector credit, and preparations to host the FIFA World Cup (World Cup 2022).
