Deposits with commercial banks in Oman reach OMR22.4bn

Muscat: The total deposits with traditional commercial banks in Oman increased by 5.1 percent to reach OMR22.4 billion Omani rials at the end of August 2023.

Government’s deposits with commercial banks increased by 5.5 percent to reach OMR5.3 billion. Private sector deposits increased by 7.3 percent to reach OMR15.3 billion at the end of August 2023, constituting 68.1 percent of the total deposits with traditional commercial banks.

The total balance of credit granted by traditional commercial banks in the Sultanate of Oman at the end of August 2023 recorded an increase of 5.4 percent, while credit granted to the private sector increased by 5.5 percent to reach OMR20.3 billion.

The total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities witnessed a decline of 7.7 percent to reach about OMR4.2 billion at the end of August 2023, while investment in government development bonds decreased by 10.2 percent to reach OMR1.9 billion compared to the same period in 2022.

The traditional commercial banks’ investments in foreign securities witnessed an increase of 58.9 percent to reach about OMR1 billion at the end of August 2023.

Islamic banking
The total assets of Islamic banks and windows in Oman combined rose by 17.6 percent to about OMR7.2 billion at the end of August 2023, recording an increase of 13.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

Data issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) indicated that the total balance of financing granted by Islamic banks and units practicing this activity recorded an increase of 12.9 percent, reaching about OMR5.9 billion at the end of August.

The data further showed that deposits with Islamic banks and windows witnessed an increase of 13 percent to reach about OMR5.4 billion at the end of August 2023.