File photo used for representation
The Traffic Department issued 10,075 driving licences in October 2016, registering a 17.9 percent increase compared to a total of 8,548 driving licences issued in October last year.
This was an increase of 35.9 percent compared with September 2016, when 7,413 driving licences were issued.
These figures were revealed in the 34th edition of Qatar Monthly Statistics issued by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.
Giving a breakup between Qataris and non-Qataris who were issued driving licences, the report says that Traffic Department issued 630 new driving licences to Qatari nationals in October 2016, which is a 21.4 percent increase when compared to October 2015 in which 519 driving licences were issued. In September 2016, 509 driving licences were issued to Qataris.The October 2016 figure shows an increase of 23.8 percent when compared with September 2016.
The report further reveals that 9,445 driving licences were issued to non-Qataris in October 2016, marking a 17.6 percent increase compared with October 2015 in which 8,029 driving licences were issued to non-Qataris.
In September 2016, 6,904 driving licences were issued to non-Qataris. The October 2016 figure shows a 36.8 percent increase when compared with the two months of 2016.
There has been a steep increase in the number of visitors from GCC, as the total number reached, from the beginning of the year until October 2016, 1,157,811 visitors, registering an annual increase of 5.1% compared with the total number of visitors from GCC during last year until October 2015 when only 1,102,095 visitors arrived in Qatar. The difference is about 55,716 visitors from the beginning of the year.
The statistics also show that Qatar's population reached 2.6 million in October 2016, an annual increase of 8.3% as the population was 2.4 million in October 2015, with a total of 2,311 births during October, 2016.
Traffic violations were 161,353 in October 2016, while the number was 145,128 in September 2016, marking a 11.2 percent increase.
The traffic violations related to crossing red light signals have seen a downward trend from 1,808 in September 2016 to 1,746 in October 2016.
According to statistics, there were 20 cases of traffic violations pertaining to non-renewal of driving licences in October 2015 which increased to 73 in October 2016, a 265 percent increase.
The bulletin also highlights the number of vehicles registered in October 2016 which was 8,629 compared to 5,352 during September 2016, with a monthly increase of 61.2%.
According to official statistics, top five export destinations in October 2016 were: Japan (QR 943m), South Korea (QR3,054m), India (QR2064m), China (QR1588m) and the UAE (QR1313m).
The top five origins of import in October 2016 were: the USA (QR2,528m), Germany (QR1,146m), China (QR1,118m), UAE (QR957m) and Japan QR76m.
Total broad money supply (M2) recorded about 489bn riyals during the month of October 2016 showing a monthly decrease of 0.9% compared with September 2016.
On the other hand, cash equivalents; includes deposits decreased by 0.3 % during October 2016 in comparison with September 2016, as it recorded about QR677bn during October 2016.
In contrast, the total broad money supply (M2) recorded a negative year-on-year change of 4.1%, while cash equivalents; includes deposits, recorded a positive year-on-year change of 7.4%.
