Qatar’s crude oil production fell to 625,000 bpd in April from 699,000 bpd in March, QNB has said in its “Qatar Monthly Monitor”.
Brent crude oil prices picked up to $49.7 a barrel at the end of May compared to $48.1 a month earlier.
“We expect oil prices to stabilise as excess supply in the global market is reduced by both higher demand and production cuts among high-cost producers, such as US shale oil producers,” QNB said.
Qatar’s overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of $2.9bn in Q4, 2015, leading to a decrease in international reserves, QNB said. 
The current account surplus narrowed further to $0.9bn in Q4, 2015 on lower hydrocarbon exports; the capital and financial account recorded a deficit of $4.4bn over the same period.
For 2015, the current account registered a surplus of $13.8bn, while the capital and financial account recorded a deficit of $19.7bn, the report said.  
Qatar’s international reserves fell to $36.1bn in April 2016 compared with $36.4bn in March. In months of prospective import cover, international reserves fell slightly to 6.2 months of imports, the report said. “We expect international reserves to stabilise going forward as oil prices recover,” QNB said.  
The country’s trade surplus fell to $1.3bn in April compared to a month earlier and is down from $3.7bn a year earlier on lower exports, the report said. 
The trade surplus fell to $1.3bn in April compared to a month earlier and is down from $3.7bn a year earlier. “We expect the merchandise trade surplus to rise in 2016 as oil prices recover,” QNB said.
QNB expects Qatar’s merchandise trade surplus to rise in 2016 as oil prices recover.
The fiscal surplus fell to QR23.1bn in Q4, 2015 compared to the QR41.3bn in the same period in 2014. Revenues declined by 21.4% in Q4, 2015 from a year earlier and expenditure was 5.6% lower in the last quarter of 2015 compared with a year earlier. 
The report showed that Qatar registered growth in bank deposits in April on non-resident deposit growth.
Bank deposits’ year-on-year growth rose to 8.3% in April from 6.5% in March, while public sector deposits contracted by 3.9%, but were offset by growth in private sector deposits and non-resident deposits (2.4% and 73.9% respectively).
QNB expects deposits to continue growing on strong population growth in the country.
According to QNB, banking credit growth rose to 19.4% in April as public sector borrowing accelerated in the country. Bank loan growth rose to 19.4% in April from 14.9% in March. 
Loans to the public sector grew by 26.2% year-on-year; lending to the private and foreign sectors also grew by 14.9% and 22.4% respectively.
“We forecast bank lending to continue growing, driven by lending related to investment projects and population growth,” QNB said.