DOHA, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Qatari banks lead the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members states in real estate lending despite a blockade, local media reported Monday.
The KAMCO, one of the leading investment firms in the region, noted that the ranking came as Qatar disbursed 3.36 billion U.S. dollars of incremental credit in the first quarter of this year, the Peninsula newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian banks, disbursing 1.47 billion dollars of incremental credit, ranked second, leading to a drop in the Gulf region's transactions, the report said.
The report also showed that the residential-related transactions contributed to 48 percent of the total transactions and accounted for 50.8 percent of the transaction volumes in the first quarter.
On Sunday, Fitch Ratings has upgraded the outlooks of Qatar Islamic Bank's (QIB) and Qatar's leading Islamic Bank to "stable."
The rating showed that Qatar was able to overcome the economic and trade blockade imposed on it by the Saudi-led bloc since last year.
A year ago, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a full blockade on the gas-rich Gulf state, citing the latter's support to terrorism, a claim that has been strongly denied by Doha.
