Qatar’s Commercial Bank is planning to raise at least $1 billion through bond issues in the coming months, Chief Executive Joseph Abraham said, as the bank looks to take advantage of positive market conditions to boost its capital.
On top of that, probably at the end of the quarter, it plans to issue senior bonds worth $500-$600 million, Abraham said.
“We’re seeing if we can diversify the investor base in our bonds, and also the tenor … because I think this is a good time to look at maybe extending the tenor for some portions of the bonds,” he said in an interview.
“Qatar’s budget was done at a level of $40 per barrel of oil and now we’re well above that, plus gas prices have also rebounded from their lows, so those are very positive because they give a bit of fiscal flexibility I think for the government,” Abraham said.
Qatar, a top exporter of liquefied natural gas, has based its 2021 budget on an average oil price of $40 per barrel, a conservative assumption which means revenues could be higher than forecast.
Meanwhile this month’s easing of a three-year-old regional dispute with some of its Arab neighbours is expected to help economic sectors such as trade and tourism.
“Of course we have the removal of the embargo or blockade of Qatar which obviously is beneficial I would say primarily initially in terms of sentiment,” Abraham said.
Based on expectations that Qatar’s economy will grow by 2.8%-3%, loan growth is likely to be about 4%-6% this year, he said.
“I believe the outlook is positive. You won’t see a sudden uptick in business activity, I think this is a slow, steady uptick, and it’s actually more skewed towards the second half of the year.”
On 4 February 2021, the 17th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup™ officially kicked off in Qatar, with…
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The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are the seven Arab states which border the Persian Gulf, namely Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).This excludes the non-Arab state of Iran. All of these nations except Iraq are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).