A move by four Arab states to blacklist dozens of figures with alleged links to Qatar could squeeze liquidity at Qatari banks which get a significant amount of their funding from the region. Qatari banks have around 60 billion riyals ($16 billion) in funding in the form of customer and interbank deposits from other Gulf states, Chiradeep Ghosh, banking analyst at SICO Bahrain, said. This pressure is likely to constrain the funding Qatari banks would be able to raise from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, one banker in the region told Reuters. “All Qatari banks will struggle for liquidity and will have to pay a premium for funding from elsewhere outside these four countries,” SICO Bahrain’s Ghosh said. Qatari banks, like their Gulf neighbours, have been struggling against a backdrop of lower oil prices, which has pushed up funding costs and raised non-performing loans.

Source: Egypt Independent June 10, 2017 11:26 UTC