Arab bank assets stand at $2.65tr

DHAKA: The volume of assets at Arab banks expanded to 2.65 trillion end of June 2012 with a growth rate of 2.5 per cent compared to 2011, a report by Union of Arab Banks (UAB) showed.

‘In spite of various internal and external issues facing the Arab countries, the banking sector has achieved positive results and has not been affected by the turmoil in the region by recording continuous growth’, UAB said, reports Gulf News.

‘We expect that the volume of assets of Arab banking sector would reach by end of June of 2012 $2.65 trillion, with a growth of 2.5 per cent compared to the same period of 2011’, UAB said.

According to UAB, ‘deposits also grew by 2.75 percent during this period of 2012, and capital increased by 4 percent’.

In the first half of 2012, UAE banks’ assets grew by 4.77 percent, Saudi Arabia by 3.33 percent, Bahrain by 3 percent, Kuwait by 2.47 percent, Oman by 3.38 percent, Lebanon by 2.95 percent, Sudan by 4 percent, Yemen by 5 percent, Mauritania by 3.57 percent and Morocco by 2 percent, according to the body.

‘The IMF expects that the economies of the Middle East and North Africa would grow by 3.6 percent throughout 2012, with a slight drop from 2011 which was 4 percent’, according to UAB.

Hammam Shamma, chief analyst and economist at Al Fajr Securities, told Gulf News that the good performance of Arab banking sector is attributed to various reasons.

‘The growth in economic sectors, particularly oil sector, led to positive results in the banking sector’, said Shamma.

He added, ‘Yet there are many challenges facing the region which requires at least three years to overpass the negative effects of the political turmoil caused by the Arab Spring.’

The UAB’s report warned that unemployment rates would rise due to decline in some economic activities in some countries of the region.

BDST: 1622 HRS, JUL 1, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor