Credit granted by banks in Oman tops $51.8bln

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Muscat: An analysis of the activities of traditional commercial banks during July 2022-July 2023 indicates continued growth of credit in the Sultanate of Oman. The total balance of credit granted by banks recorded an increase of 5.3 percent reaching OMR20.2 billion at the end of July 2023.

The report issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) further stated that the total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities witnessed a decline of 4.6 percent and reached about OMR4.4 billion at the end of July 2023.

Investment in government development bonds (GDBs) recorded a decrease of 10.4 percent reaching OMR 1.9 billion at the end of July 2023 compared to the same period last year.

Regarding investments in foreign securities, the CBO report said that such investments witnessed an increase of 89.5 percent reaching OMR1.2 billion Omani rials at the end of July 2023.

On the other liabilities side, total deposits with traditional commercial banks recorded an increase of 3.4 percent to reach OMR22.2 billion at the end of July 2023.
Among the total deposits, government deposits with commercial banks recorded an increase of 7 percent reaching about OMR5.3 billion, while deposits of public sector institutions decreased by 9.7 percent reaching about OMR1.6 billion during the same period.

Private sector deposits recorded an increase of 4.2 percent to reach OMR14.9 billion in July 2023, constituting 67 percent of the total deposits with traditional commercial banks.