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Article: Making hay: the recent stock market slump is almost the only cloud in a clear blue sky.(financial report)(Financial report)
- Article from:
- MEED Middle East Economic Digest
- Article date:
- June 9, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 MEED Middle East Economic Digest. All Rights Reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In a country where economic growth is running at more than 25 per cent, the banking sector could hardly fail to prosper--especially when the door is effectively closed to fresh foreign competition in the retail market. And Qatar's banks have not disappointed. The seven local institutions posted combined 2005 net profits of more than $1,000 million (see figure 1).
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Double and in many cases triple-digit earnings growth was recorded across the board. Qatar National Bank (QNB) posted an 85 per cent increase in profits to QR 1,564 million. The second and third largest banks, Commercialbank and Doha Bank, succeeded in raising profits by ...