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Business / Qatar Business

QCB: Foreign exchange reserves rise 1.90% annually

Published: 11 May 2026 - 09:33 am | Last Updated: 11 May 2026 - 10:17 am
Peninsula

QNA

Doha, Qatar: Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) international reserves and foreign currency liquidity rose by 1.90 percent on a yearly basis in April, reaching QR262.026bn, compared with QR257.129bn in the same period of 2025.

Data released by QCB showed that the bank’s official international reserves increased by 2.23 percent by the end of April 2026, up QR4.424bn year-on-year to QR202.370bn compared with the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, holdings of foreign bonds and treasury bills declined by around QR19.519bn, reaching QR112.142bn in April 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier.

Official reserves consist mainly of foreign bonds and treasury bills, cash balances held with foreign banks, gold holdings, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) deposits, and the State of Qatar’s quota at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in addition to other liquid foreign-currency assets in the form of deposits. Together, these components make up total international reserves.

The data also showed that gold reserves increased by around QAR 16.614 billion by the end of April 2026, reaching QR61.332bn, compared with QR44.718bn in April 2025.

Balances held with foreign banks also rose by around QR7.348bn, reaching QR23.656bn by the end of April 2026.

On the other hand, the balance of SDR deposits related to the State of Qatar’s share at the IMF declined by QR19m by the end of April 2026 compared with April 2025, to QR5.239bn.