Bank credit in Oman grows by 10.2 per cent to OMR22b

Muscat: The total outstanding credit extended by the Sultanate’s conventional and Islamic banks has achieved a year-on-year growth of 10.2 per cent at OMR21.92 billion by the end of October 2016, over the same period of last year, according to data released by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) on Monday.
Credit to the private sector increased by 11.9 percent to OMR19.7 billion as at the end of October 2016.
Of the total credit to the private sector, the household sector, mainly under personal loans, stood at 46.1 percent closely followed by the non-financial corporate sector at 45.7 percent, financial corporations at 5percent and other sectors the remaining 3.2 percent.
Of the total credit growth, conventional banks have achieved a year-on-year 7.13 per cent growth in credit disbursements, which stood at OMR19.63 billion by the end of October 2016.
The total assets of conventional banks marginally fell to OMR27.14 billion by end-October 2016 from OMR28.29 billion for the same period a year ago, said the monthly statistics of Central Bank of Oman.
“The low oil prices have brought to the fore several challenges to the Omani economy and the authorities continue to monitor the situation closely, taking appropriate policy measures when warranted. With the hydrocarbon sector still fundamental to the economy, the oil prices have impacted overall economic activity adversely,” said the CBO monthly report.
The CBO report added that the total deposits of all banks put together registered a growth of 5 percent to OMR20.5 billion by end-October 2016. Private sector deposits of the banking system registered a growth of 4.4 per cent to OMR13 billionas at the end of October 2016.
Sector-wise, the share of households was 49 percent of the total private sector deposit base, followed by non-financial corporations at 28.3 percent, financial corporations at 19.5 percent and the other sectors at 3.2 percent.
The CBO report said that the aggregate deposits held by conventional banks alone registered a modest growth of 0.94 per cent to OMR18.34 billion by end-October from OMR18.16 billion a year ago.