Monday 21 February 2011

FOCUS: Qatar Fine Tunes Banks Ahead Of World Cup Lending Spree - Zawya

Qatar's banks, bailed out a little more than two years ago, are being primed by the government to cope with the demands of soaring economic growth and a projected multi-billion-dollar lending spree on infrastructure projects that will rise as the 2022 World Cup approaches.

The latest boost for the Qatari banking system, which has received billions of dollars in aid since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, came last month in the form of a capital injection from the Qatar Investment Authority, or QIA, the country's sovereign wealth fund, as part of plans to increase its stake in most domestic banks to 20%.

The QIA's move aims at giving local banks the extra firepower with which to lend as the Arab Gulf state's economy is expected to grow at close to 17% this year and a slew of large-scale infrastructure projects will require funding.

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