Qatar economic activity today is stronger than 2020

The 9th edition of the Euromoney Qatar Conference kicked off in Doha on Sunday Under the patronage of Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani.

In his speech during the opening ceremony, Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) HE Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani stressed that the economic activity in Qatar today was much stronger than it was in 2020. Qatar occupies a distinguished position as one of the world's leading countries in the production and export of clean energy of liquefied natural gas.

Sheikh Bandar said the country's economy has proven strength and resilience despite the economic challenges imposed by the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), as a result of the directives of the wise leadership, and the economic and financial support plan that was implemented to assist the sectors affected by the measures to limit the spread of the pandemic.

The governor stressed that the Euromoney Conference presents great challenges for everyone today, represented in proper planning for the future, as the past two years witnessed events that indicate the difficulty of predicting the future, and the importance of the readiness and proactiveness of central banks to confront those challenges.

He stressed that the existence of a flexible economy provides a strong basis that helps to plan for the future, as this flexibility is evident through the data related to the government budget and the current account, the official reserves of the state, and the strength of the financial sector, in addition to economic diversification.

Despite the difficult challenges that the global financial sector has witnessed in recent times, he continued, Qatari banks still enjoy a good amount of capitalization, high liquidity and maintaining the quality of assets, and the profitability of banks has remained stable, while the percentage of non-performing loans is still considered among the lowest in the region.