Omani banks achieve 6.2 per cent growth in credit

Muscat: Omani banks, including Islamic institutions, have achieved a year-on-year growth of 6.2 per cent at OMR23.3 billion by October-end of 2017.
Credit to the private sector increased by 5.8 per cent to OMR20.8 billion as at the end of October 2017, according to the latest monthly statistics released by the Central Bank of Oman. Of the total credit to the private sector, the household sector (mainly under personal loans) stood at 46.5 per cent closely followed by the non-financial corporate sector at 45.3 per cent, while financial corporations and other sectors obtained 5 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.
“The banking sector in Oman continued to witness reasonable growth in both credit and deposits,” noted the report.
Total deposits registered a growth of 4.8 per cent to OMR21.5 billion, with private sector deposits growing by 6.4 per cent to OMR13.9 billion as at the end of October 2017.
Sector-wise, the contribution of households in total private sector deposits was 48.1 per cent, followed by non-financial corporations at 29.2 per cent, financial corporations at 19.7 per cent, and the other sectors at 3 per cent.
Review of the activities of conventional banks indicates an annual growth in total outstanding credit of 3.6 per cent as at the end of October 2017. Credit to the private sector of conventional banks increased by 3 per cent to OMR18.1billion.
Also, aggregate deposits held with conventional banks increased by 1.6 per cent to OMR18.6 billion in October 2017 from OMR18.3 billion a year ago.
Islamic banks provided financing to the extent of OMR2.9 billion as at the end of October 2017 as compared to OMR2.3 billion a year ago.
Total deposits held with Islamic banks and windows also registered a significant increase to OMR2.9 billion in October 2017 from OMR2.2 billion as at the end of October 2016. The total assets of Islamic banks and windows combined, amounted to OMR3.7 billion as at the end Of October 2017, constituting about 11.9 per cent of the banking system assets.