RIYADH: Qatar’s inflation surged by 4.01 percent year-on-year in March, as a result of a rise of prices across eight categories, according to data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority. The Consumer Price Index of March 2023, which is a broad measure of inflation, reached 105.55 points, up by 0.20 percent compared to February’s CPI. According to the data released by PSA, recreation and culture recorded the highest surge in price with 13.63 percent increase. Housing, water, electricity, and other fuel increased by 8.65 percent, clothing and footwear by 4.9 percent, education by 2.61 percent, transport by 2.5 percent, and restaurants and hotels by 2.25 percent. The two other groups – health and food and beverages – both witnessed a CPI increase of 1.62 percent and 1.06 percent year-on-year in March 2023. According to Kamco Invest, a regional non-banking financial company, Qatari banks recorded the highest loan increase among Gulf lenders during the fourth quarter of 2022 despite a stiff interest rate environment. Qatari banks recorded the highest loan growth at 3.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to a drop in lending during the quarter before, Kamco’s report said citing GCC central banks. The Kamco Invest GCC banking sector report also added that at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, aggregate credit facilities in Qatar reached 1.3 trillion Qatari riyals ($357 billion), mostly due to a 9 percent increase in lending to real estate, followed by 5.5 percent and 5.4 percent growth in loans to services and public sector, respectively. Lending to consumption fell by 2.5 percent while lending to industry fell by 4.4 percent overall in the domestic loan market. Deposits at Qatari-listed banks increased significantly by 3.1 percent to $405 billion. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, kept leading the GCC in customer deposits with $691 billion after seeing a quarter-on-quarter gain of 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. Additionally, the total return on equity for the GCC banking industry increased during the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching one of the highest levels in recent years at 12.3 percent, up from 11.8 percent at the end of the third quarter. The highest return on equity in the region at the end of the fourth quarter was recorded by UAE-listed banks, at 13.9 percent, closely followed by Saudi Arabian and Qatari banks, with RoEs of 12.5 percent and 12.4 percent.