Qatar central bank offers QAR 3 bln of government bonds

Qatar’s central bank is offering QAR 3 billion worth of government bonds in the gas-rich state’s first domestic bond sale this year, Reuters reported, citing documents seen by the news agency.

The offer consists of QAR 1.5 billion of three-year bonds at a fixed rate of 2.25 percent, QAR 1 billion riyals of five-year debt at 2.75 percent, QAR 250 million of seven-year debt at 3.25 percent and QAR 250 million of 10-year debt at 3.75 percent.

The result of the sale will be known on Tuesday.

Last November, the country sold QAR 6.5 billion of conventional and Sharia-compliant bonds. Several other monthly sales of short-term bills offered by the central bank had been cancelled amid lower oil prices and reduced supply of flow to the banking system.

"Liquidity has gradually got better in the past six weeks, though it is still tight. The cost of deposits hasn't come down," a Qatari commercial banker told Reuters.

The central bank has reduced the size of its Treasury bills to improve the liquidity situation, sources said.

Qatar raised $9 billion in an international bond issue in late May, and there are indications that authorities may have provided at least some of this money to Qatari banks to ease liquidity pressures, the report added.

Deposits by local banks at the central bank jumped to QAR 14.5 billion in June, the highest since July 2015, from QAR 3.7 billion in May.