Total foreign assets of CBO rise by 1.5% to OMR6.56bn

Muscat: The total foreign assets of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) rose by 1.5 percent to OMR6.56 billion at the end of April 2023 compared to OMR6.47 billion at the end of April 2022.

The preliminary data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) shows that the domestic liquidity increased by about OMR688 million or by 3.4 percent to reach OMR21.69 billion at the end of April 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

The total cash issued by the CBO decreased by 9.1 percent to OMR1.75 billion at the end of April 2023 compared to OMR1.92 billion at the end of April 2022.

On the other hand, the deposits of the private sector in commercial banks and Islamic windows at the end of April 2023 amounted to about OMR17.87 billion an increase of 3.7 percent over the same period in 2022, which witnessed deposits of the private sector amounting to OMR17.24 billion.

While the total loans and financing in commercial banks and Islamic windows increased at the end of April 2023 by 6.3 percent to reach OMR30.25 billion compared to OMR28.24 billion. The average interest rate on total loans decreased by 1.9 percent and was recorded at 5.367 percent.

The effective exchange rate index for the Omani Rial increased by 2.3 percent to 113.9 points at the end of April 2023 compared to 111.3 points at the end of April 2022.