Doha: Qatar Central Bank's (QCB) international reserves and foreign currencies liquidity increased last December by 9.6 percent on an annual basis, to reach QR230.026bn, compared to QR209.932bn in the same period last year.
December recorded a monthly growth of 2.7 percent compared to November 2022.
The figures issued by QBC on Saturday, showed an increase in the bank's official international reserves standing at QR 172.092bn by the end of last December, scoring a growth rate of 12.4 percent, compared to QR 153.103bn in the same period of 2021.
QCB's official international reserves recorded a growth of 3.6 percent, compared to that of November 2022, which at that time amounted to QR166.109bn, driven by a 20.4 percent jump in the central bank's balances of bonds and foreign treasury bills, equaling about QR131.772bn last December, compared to the level of QR109.401bn in December of 2021.
Official reserves consist of several main components: foreign bonds and bills, cash balances with foreign banks, gold holdings, deposits of special drawing rights (SDR), and Qatar's quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In addition to the official reserves, there are other liquid assets (deposits in foreign currency), so that the two together form what is known as the total reserves.
On the other hand, the State of Qatar's balance of SDR deposits in the IMF decreased by the end of December 2022 to QR5.258bn, compared to QR5.518bn in the same period of last year.
Balances with foreign banks also decreased to QR15.469bn at the end of December 2022, compared to a level of QR26.135bn in December 2021.
Gold stocks increased by the end of December 2022 to QR19.591bn, compared to QR12.047bn in December last year.
