The Central Bank of Qatar plans to digitize most of its banking products, including the study and possibility of developing and launching CBDC digital currencies.

Another directive issued by the institution involves the issuance of digital bank licenses.

Qatar enters the CBDC race:

in talking To The Peninsula at the 8th Doha Islamic Finance Conference, Mr. Al-Anoud Abdullah Al-Muftah, Head of Financial Technology at Qatar Central Bank, explained the new and digital direction of the institution, and stated:

The Bank is beginning to explore several initiatives that will become more visible in the next few months.

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We are trying to study the different aspects and sectors of FinTech.

We are also trying to determine our direction.

Each central bank should study avenues for licensing digital banks, bearing in mind their growing importance in the global market.

The executive also confirmed the bank’s intentions to go the central bank digital currency route, like many other central banks.

Key added:

The Qatar Central Bank is still far from ready to launch such a product.

But as of now, the bank has entered research mode to determine if and how central bank digital currency can impact the domestic monetary landscape.

On the other hand, Narayanan Srinivasan, Operations Manager and Digital Officer at Dukhan Bank told during the same conference that his bank wants to establish a digital bank in Qatar.

Additionally, they plan to use blockchain technology in some payment services.

CBDC currencies around the world:

Aside from China, which has been among the world leaders in terms of CBDC development with many applied tests, countless other countries have gone down this path in the past few years.

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The Central Bank of Jamaica recently noted that it wants a free distribution of $16 worth of central bank digital currency to the first 100,000 citizens who have created a digital wallet by April 1.

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Recently, Canada’s central banking authority teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to research the pros and cons of such a product, while India expects its digital banking to arrive by the end of 2022.

The US is already at the end of the race, as the country has had an indecisive approach for years without clearly deciding whether to launch a CBDC.

Recently, the Federal Reserve has also weighed in on the positive and negative aspects of a central bank digital currency.

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