Abu Dhabi Volume of assets at Arab banks expanded to 2.65 trillion (Dh9.74 trillion) end of June 2012 with a growth rate of 2.5 per cent compared to 2011, a report by Union of Arab Banks (UAB) showed.
“In spite of various internal and external issues facing the Arab countries, the banking sector has achieved positive results and has not been affected by the turmoil in the region by recording continuous growth,” UAB said.
“We expect that the volume of assets of Arab banking sector would reach by end of June of 2012 $2.65 trillion, with a growth of 2.5 per cent compared to the same period of 2011,” UAB said.
“Deposits also grew by 2.75 per cent during this period of 2012, and capital increased by 4 per cent,” according to UAB.
In the first half of 2012, UAE banks’ assets grew by 4.77 per cent, Saudi Arabia by 3.33 per cent, Bahrain by 3 per cent, Kuwait by 2.47 per cent, Oman by 3.38 per cent, Lebanon by 2.95 per cent, Sudan by 4 per cent, Yemen by 5 per cent, Mauritania by 3.57 per cent and Morocco by 2 per cent, according to the body.
“The IMF expects that the economies of the Middle East and North Africa would grow by 3.6 per cent throughout 2012, with a slight drop from 2011 which was 4 per cent,” according to UAB.
Hammam Shamma’, Chief analyst and economist at Al Fajr Securities, told Gulf News that the good performance of Arab banking sector is attributed to various reasons.
“The growth in economic sectors, particularly oil sector, led to positive results in the banking sector,” said Shamma’.
He added: “Yet there are many challenges facing the region which requires at least three years to overpass the negative effects of the political turmoil caused by the Arab Spring.”
The UAB’s report warned that unemployment rates would rise due to decline in some economic activities in some countries of the region.
“Facing tomorrow’s challenges and particularly the need to create more than 50 million job opportunities within the next decade to accommodate the young newcomers into the labour market, are the main challenges facing the region’s economies,” UAB said.
