Qatar Economy May Get More Support, Al-Thani Says

Qatar, which has said it will buy bank real estate portfolios, may introduce new measures to support its financial markets, central bank Governor Abdullah Bin Saud Al-Thani said.

“I think there is more in our plan to stabilize and to make the financial market and industry more stable and sound,” al-Thani said in an interview today at a central bank governors meeting in Basel, Switzerland. He did not specify which measures would be taken.

Qatar’s government said on May 28 that it would buy real- estate investments worth as much as 15 billion riyals ($4.1 billion) from local banks. Al-Thani said last month that the Persian Gulf state was prepared to extend a bailout of investment-bank funds to other industries after saying in March that it would buy $1.8 billion in investments from seven local banks.