Qatar National Bank

Economic CommentaryIn January,China’s foreign currency reserves dipped below USD3tn, their lowest level in five years and down from the USD4tn peak reached in June 2014. The precipitous decline...

At the beginning of February, India’s central government announced its new budget for the fiscal year running from April 2017 to March 2018. The budget continued the medium-term path of fiscal...

There are two planks to Trumponomics—trade protectionism and fiscal stimulus through tax cuts and infrastructure spending. While US fiscal stimulus should be positive for the US and the rest of...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) kept its forecasts for global growth in 2017 unchanged at 3.4% in the latest update of its World Economic Outlook. The overall number masked some tinkering with...

Since the taper tantrum of 2013, capital flows to emerging markets (EMs) have deteriorated. In 2016, EM capital flows did recover slightly but they remained well below their post-financial crisis...

Qatar’s Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) released GDP data for Q3 2016 last week. Real GDP growth accelerated from 1.8% in Q2 to 3.7% in Q3 owing to a recovery in the...

On 8 November 2016, the Indian government embarked on one of the most remarkable monetary experiments ever. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, unexpectedly announced a ban on using the highest...

On December 15, Qatar’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) released its budget for 2017 in which it outlined its fiscal outlook for the coming year. The budget committed to reducing Qatar’s planned...

In terms of growth rates, the performance of the US economy in 2016 was mediocre. Growth is expected to have been 1.6%, below what most economists consider as potential (1.75%) and below the average...

The report examines recent developments and the outlook for the Chinese economy as concerns about mounting corporate debt and overheating property prices force the government to scale back...

The month of December confirmed that the divergence in global monetary policies is now in motion. On 8 December, the European Central Bank (ECB) introduced a further dose of monetary stimulus. Almost...

Economic CommentaryThe year 2016 was dominated by an environment of multi-year lows in oil prices and global bond yields as well as political surprises. Much of this is set to change in 2017, where we...

On 30 November, OPEC agreed to cut output by 1.2m barrels per day to 32.5m barrels, effective from 1 January 2017. The agreement is for a period of six months, but could be extended by six months at...

In 2015-16, GDP growth in the Euro Area has averaged 1.8%, well above post-crisis potential growth which is estimated to be around 1.0%. The strongest tailwinds have been falling oil prices, a weaker...

QNB Group has published today its Vietnam Economic Insight 2016 report. Vietnam is a standout performer amongst emerging markets, led by strong export growth and firming domestic demand. Despite...

Economic CommentaryIndonesia has long suffered from chronic supply bottlenecks that have congested the economy and dragged growth down below potential. In 2014, hopes were raised that the new...