Qatar economy set to grow by 5.5 pct in ''13 - CBQ Governor 

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Governor of Central Bank of Qatar (CBQ) Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saoud Al-Thani on Monday expected the actual economic growth in his country to hit 5.5 percent in 2013.

Addressing the opening session of MEED Qatar Projects 2013 Conference, Al-Thani said the preliminary data show that GDP grew by 11 percent in 2012.

The economy has thus proceeded from the stage of robust growth to that of
sustainable growth envisaged in Qatar National Vision 2030, he pointed out.

Dealing with the financial developments experienced by QCB, Al-Thani said the Qatari banking system reflected the financial situation in the country with the value of the assets of the commercial banks growing by 18 percent to some 817 billion riyals in 2012.

The deposits increased by 26 percent to 458 billion riyals and local crediting went up by 27 percent to 477 billion riyals last year, he revealed.

The rate of irregular loans to the total crediting remained well below 1.7 percent by the end of 2012 though the value of loans maintained its steady growth which reflects good quality of the bank assets, he explained.

On Qatar National Vision 2030, Al-Thani said it aimed to create an efficient risk-immune financial system which requires restructuring of the auditing and supervisory bodies, activating the capital market, and launching a center for credit information and a financial watchdog.

As part of these efforts the state adopted the CBQ Act No. 13 for 2012 which constitutes an essential step towards financial stability in line with the world's best practices and criterions of good-governance, he went on.

Al-Thani voiced hope that MEED will shed light on the investment opportunities and the key projects to be launched in Qatar in 2013 in the framework of the country's development strategy.