Personal loans constitute a whopping 34 percent of the $116.04 billion disbursed by GCC commercial banks, the Gulf News reported Sunday.
They were followed by trade at 24 per cent, construction 11 percent, manufacturing and government sectors 10 percent each, transport and communication 3 percent, and other loans at 8 percent.
A report by Doha-based Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) was quoted by the daily as saying that the total credit rose from $66.7 billion in 1993 to $114.46 billion in 1998.
The report cited many factors hampering GCC banks' efforts, including the predominance of traditional banking businesses, small size of the banking units and the number of branches, stringent banking laws, absence of medium- and long-term financing, according to the daily -- Albawaba.com
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