Qatar raises reserve requirement for banks

Doha: Qatar's central bank raised risk reserve requirements for lenders to 2.5 per cent from 1.5 per cent, the governor said.

Banks have two years to fulfil the requirement, designed to increase bank capital and make them more risk-averse, Abdullah Bin Saud Al Thani said yesterday.

"Raising reserve requirements is what you want to do when you want to make banks more resilient," said Khalid Howladar, a Dubai-based senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service. "In a mature jurisdiction it may be significant, but here, when you look at how pre-emptive the government was in buying assets and making capital injections, this is only one of many arrows in Qatar's quiver."