Qatar central bank committed to providing currencies at official rates

DOHA, Nov 23, (RTRS): Qatar’s central bank (QCB) said on Thursday it was committed to providing all the currency requirements of foreign investors at the official exchange rates.

“There are no restrictions on all banking transactions including transfers,” the bank said in a statement, stressing that money transfers could move freely into and out of the country at the official exchange rates.

“QCB has much more than the required foreign reserves to cover all investors’ requirements,” it said.

Qatari gas producers QatarGas and RasGas this week began implementing job cuts that had been postponed because of the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its neighbouring states, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The layoffs had initially been slated for June after the Gulf state’s decision to merge the two liquified natural gas (LNG) divisions of Qatar Petroleum.

Qatar Petroleum’s CEO has said that the merger of RasGas and Qatargas would help to cut operating costs by hundreds of millions of dollars at the world’s largest LNG producer.

Some engineers were given fresh appointment letters from the newly merged entities, while others were notified about redundancies, one of the sources said, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Another source said that as many as 500 staff had been axed.

Qatar Petroleum did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

Qatar National Bank (QNB), the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa, has put on hold plans to connect to Saudi Arabia’s interbank payment network, as a regional political rift disrupts its growth plans in the kingdom, sources familiar with the matter said.

In May, the lender opened a branch in Riyadh, its first in the kingdom, offering retail and corporate banking services.

But while the branch is operational, QNB has not yet completed steps to connect to the Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express (SARIE) system, which allows commercial banks in the kingdom to make and settle payments in riyals and is an important step for lenders operating there, the sources said.

They said the delay was prompted by the political rift, which led to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on June 5 suspending diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar.

In a statement, a QNB spokesperson said its operations in Saudi Arabia were operating as normal.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to be a strategic market for QNB and we still envisages that in the future the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be a significant opportunity for growth,” it said.