By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Qatar’s total stock of debt declined significantly over the past two years. The country saw its debt stock declining by 16.4 percent to $61bn in 2014 from its peak of $78bn in 2013. Qatari public sector was inactive in Q3, 2014 despite healthy demand for its paper from Qatari banks and foreign investors.
Weak issuance coupled with the maturity of several large issues earlier in the year, led the GCC’s stock of debt to post its slowest net growth rate yet. It ended the year up by 3.5 percent, adding a net $8.5bn to the stock during the year, NBK’s Economic update on GCC Debt Market, said yesterday.
Global economic unease and volatile oil prices have contributed to weaker debt issuance in GCC during the second half of 2014. Issuance of second half came in at a relatively weak $16bn, dampening an outstanding first half that benefitted from brighter economic prospects. Issuance during Q4 was the weakest in three years.
In an earlier report, NBK analysts noted Qatar’s stock of total outstanding debt contracted by $9bn to reach $69bn though it remains the second highest in the GCC, after the UAE. The report said Qatar would continue to see the maturing of large sovereign debentures, most of them were issued in response to the 2008 financial crisis. “GCC’s growth in the total stock of bonds slowed to 8 percent year-on-year during Q1,14, almost half its two-year average of 15 percent”.
NBK analysts yesterday noted sovereign yields rose in Q4 following Opec’s decision to refrain from cutting production to support oil prices, though yields have since returned to previous levels.
The Peninsula
