Mubasher: Assets of Islamic banks operating in Qatar fell 1.84% year-on-year in January, according to the monthly monetary bulletin released by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB).
Qatari Islamic banks’ assets amounted to QAR 347.49 billion ($95.48 billion) last January, compared to QAR 354.02 billion ($97.27 billion) in the corresponding month a year earlier.
The GCC nation has five Islamic lenders, namely Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB), Masraf Al Rayan, Barwa Bank, and Qatar First Bank (QFB).
Islamic banks made up 25.2% of the total assets of commercial lenders operating in the gas-rich nation which registered QAR 1.402 trillion.
Assets of Islamic banks included QAR 14.82 billion as balances held by banks in Qatar, QAR 224.48 billion as local credit, QAR 66.03 billion as local investment and QAR 1.01 billion as fixed assets, along with QAR 4.63 billion as other assets.
Foreign assets accounted for QAR 24.34 billion of the assets of Islamic banks in January, QCB data showed.
In addition, reserves of Islamic banks logged QAR 12.16 billion, accounting for 6.7% of the total international reserves and foreign currency liquidity held by QCB which totalled QAR 179.79 billion.
Assets of Islamic banks made up about 80% of the total assets of Islamic finance, followed by Islamic bonds or sukuks, Islamic investment funds and Islamic insurance or takaful industry with 15%, 4%, and 1%, respectively.
