Brent crude oil prices were stable at $49.7 a barrel at the end of June, QNB said in its latest ‘Qatar monthly monitor’.

QNB expects “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.”
Qatar’s crude oil production fell to 625,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April from 699,000bpd in March.
The overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of $0.7bn in Q1, 2016, leading to a decrease in the country’s international reserves.
International reserves fell to $35.8bn in May compared with $36.1bn in April, QNB said. In months of prospective import cover, international reserves were stable at 7.2 months of imports.
"We expect international reserves to stabilise going forward as oil prices recover," QNB said.
The current account balance swung into a deficit of $2.3bn in Q1, 2016 on lower oil prices; the capital and financial account recorded a surplus of $2.5bn 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.
Broad money (M2) growth contracted by 4.4% in May after a 1.6% contraction in April, it said.
The slowdown was mostly attributable to the contraction in foreign currency deposits of 19.2% in May, and demand deposit growth slowing to 1.6% in May from 11% in April.
Overnight interbank rates rose to 1.66% in May from 1.06% on average in April 2016.
The 1-week interbank rate rose by 44 basis points to 1.57% in May, the 1-month interbank rate fell by 2 basis points to 1.35% and the 1-year interbank rate fell by 10 basis points to 1.65%.
Bank deposits year-on-year growth was stable at 8.3% in May.
Public sector deposits contracted by 13.2%, but were offset by growth in private sector deposits and non-resident deposits (3% and 104.4% respectively).
QNB expects deposits to continue growing on strong population growth.
Qatar’s banking asset growth rose to 14.7% in May from 14.5% in April. Foreign assets grew by 12.6% year-on-year, driven by expansion in credit (21.3%); while domestic assets grew by 16.7%, driven by the growth in domestic credit (19.9%).
“We expect bank assets to continue growing, driven by lending related to investment projects and population growth,” QNB said.
Bank loan growth rose to 20.1% in May from 19.4% in April. Loans to the public sector grew by 30.5% year-on-year; lending to the private and foreign sectors also grew by 14.0% and 21.3% respectively.
“We forecast bank lending to continue growing, driven by lending related to investment projects and population growth,” QNB said.
The QCB real estate index rose by 13.3% year-on-year in March 2016 slowing down from 14.8% in February.
The real estate price index rose by 1.9% in March 2016 as compared to a month earlier, according to the Qatar Central Bank.
Qatar’s population grew by 5.7% year-on-year in June 2016 to reach 2.48mn, QNB said. The male population rose by 6.9% year-on-year, reaching 1.9mn in June while the female population increased by 1.8% year-on-year over the same period, reaching 0.58mn.
“We expect Qatar’s on-going investment programme to continue to attract expatriates, resulting in strong population growth in 2016,” QNB said.