Qatar does not see the need to provide more support to its banks after it spent $900 million on buying bank stakes amid the financial crisis to bolster the sector, its central bank governor said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Tuesday Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al-Thani said previous aid had been 'preventive.'    

Qatar took a 5 percent stake in listed banks' capital in December, in the second stage of a previously announced move aimed at boosting confidence in the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

'We don't need any intervention at all,' he said.

Governments across the world have been grappling with whether to withdraw stimulus packages or continue spending to keep economies functioning while global recovery remains fragile.   

The economy of Qatar has been spared much of the effects of the global slowdown and most Qatari banks have had little exposure to Dubai World's debt and other debt troubles in the region.

Qatar's gross domestic product could surge as much 17 percent in real terms in 2010. Sheikh Abdullah said.

According to a Reuters poll, Qatar will remain the region's leader with a 16.1 percent jump in gross domestic product this year thanks to massive expansion of its natural gas facilities, while Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, is expected to grow by 3.8 percent.

Sheikh Abdullah reiterated previous statements that he expected inflation to be in 'single digits' in 2010, reversing a deflation cycle since June last year as a weak global economy put pressure on hydrocarbon prices and housing rents were slashed amid an oversupply of housing.
   
Consumer prices in the state fell 5.2 percent between January and November last year.

Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, advisor to Qatar's emir, said the country would move to ensure the economy grew at a sustainable pace. 'Growth should be controlled, and determined by the capacity of the economy to absorb it,' he told reporters on the sidelines of the same conference.    

'We want to make sure the economy does not overheat and reach a level of stress. But we also want to make sure underheating is not there.'  

The country was active in debt markets in 2009 issuing more than $8 billion in bonds, but Sheikh Abdullah said it was still too soon to say whether it would issue debt in 2010. - Reuters