Govt deposits with commercial banks up 7.7%, a CBO bulletin showed
March 22, 2014 Muscat
The total assets of Oman's commercial banks increased 7.3 per cent to RO22.7bn in January of 2014 from RO21.1bn a year ago, according to a bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).
Of the total assets, credit disbursement accounted for 67 per cent and increased by 6.6 per cent to RO15.3bn at the end of January 2014. While credit to the government declined 32.9 per cent, credit to the private sector and public enterprises increased by 6.5 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively.
Of the total credit to the private sector, the share of the non-financial corporate sector stood at 46.8 per cent, followed closely by the household sector (mainly under personal loans) at 46.2 per cent, financial corporations at 4.9 per cent and other sectors the remaining 2.1 per cent.
The CBO bulletin added that commercial banks' overall investments in securities increased by 27.9 per cent to RO2.76bn at the end of January 2014 from RO2.16bn a year ago. Of the total investments, CBO certificates of deposit (CDs) stood at RO1.42bn, while investment in government development bonds (GDBs) stood at RO567.3mn.
On the liabilities side of the balance sheet, total deposits with commercial banks also witnessed a significant rise of 9.9 per cent to RO15.77bn in January 2014 from RO14.35bn in January 2013.
Government deposits with commercial banks increased by 7.7 per cent to RO4.3bn, while deposits of public enterprises declined by 2.3 per cent to RO975.7mn during the same period. Private-sector deposits, which constituted 64 per cent of the total deposits with commercial banks, increased by 12.1 per cent to RO10.19bn in January 2014 from RO9.09bn a year ago.
© Muscat Daily 2014
