Doha’s exhausted economy … deficit, corruption and liquidity crisis in Qatar

Exhausted Qatar lives on the impact of escalating and increasing crises internally and externally, starting from deficit and not ending with corruption and bad reputations, passing through continuous borrowing to provide the country’s cash shortage.

The massive recession in the Qatari real estate market and the low investment in it prompted the Doha government to seek to beg foreigners and encourage them to return, to stop the market collapse through several temptations.

Qatar said, on Tuesday, that it would allow foreign individuals and companies to own real estate in other parts of the country, to attract external financing to the sector.

A government statement stated that foreign individuals can own real estate in nine regions, up from three before, while the number of areas in which foreigners are entitled to exploit real estate has increased to 16.

Financially, the deficit of the foreign exchange assets balance of Qatari banks last August exceeded the previous historical level recorded in July 2020, amid the increasing needs of Doha for foreign exchange to cover the dues in currencies other than the riyal.

A survey conducted by “Al Ain News”, Tuesday, referring to data issued by the Qatar Central Bank, showed that the deficit of foreign assets of Qatari banks rose last August by 18.18 billion riyals ($ 5 billion), compared to last July’s figures.

The total deficit of banks operating in the Qatari market with net foreign assets amounted to about 352.68 billion riyals (96.94 billion dollars), up from 334.5 billion riyals (92 billion dollars) at the end of last July.

On an annual basis, the deficit of foreign assets of banks in Qatar increased by 26.4%, as the deficit was recorded until the end of August 2019 about 278.8 billion Qatari riyals (76.6 billion US dollars), according to official data.

Because of the deficit, the local debt markets have turned into a refuge for the Qatari government to provide scarce liquidity, with the aim of providing cash to be pumped into the current expenditures of the government in the small emirate, amid the increasing impact of the Arab boycott and the Corona virus on Doha’s economy.

Open market tools

On Tuesday, the Qatar Central Bank said in a statement that it, on behalf of the government, and within the framework of managing monetary policy, and contributing to strengthening the banking and financial system and activating open market tools, has issued notes of varying duration.

The bank stated that it issued bills with a total value of 600 million riyals ($ 165 million) distributed in three tranches, the first of the bills worth 300 million riyals (82.5 million US dollars) for a period of 3 months at an interest rate of about 0.11%, due in January Next January.

Misfortunes continue to affect the Qatari economy, with the emergence of new negative numbers exposing the performance of government companies, most notably the Qatar Airways Group, while bad reputations and accusations of corruption continue to haunt the small emirate.

The losses incurred by Qatar Airways during the last financial year ending last March were not the first in the company’s history, but an extension of other losses that the company recorded over the years of its operation.

A survey conducted by Al Ain News, referring to the consolidated budget data of the issued company, shows that the company’s losses during the last fiscal year 2019/2020 amounted to 7 billion Qatari riyals (1.94 billion US dollars).

On another issue, the Bank of Trade and Development in Libya exposed the corruption of the unconstitutional government of Fayez al-Sarraj in Libya and the militia affiliated with him, who work to serve the interests of Turkey and Qatar.

During the past years, Al-Sarraj led a campaign to destroy the Libyan state and its economy, with the support of the sponsors of terrorism in Turkey and Qatar.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Trade Bank revealed the falsehood of the allegations and statements made by the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli, the article Al-Siddiq al-Kabeer, stressing that he is biased against national banks in favor of Qatar Bank in Libya.