Tourism, fisheries, agriculture and more benefit from OMR37 million loans

Muscat: Loans worth about OMR37 million were disbursed by the Oman Development Bank (ODB) in the first eight months of the current year in different governorates of the Sultanate.
The number of disbursed loans from January until August this year stood at 3,984 and the total amount was OMR36,736,497.
The loan disbursal is within the framework of the bank’s strategy to enhance economic diversification as part of the government’s strategy to fund developmental projects in the Sultanate. The industrial sector was provided with 1,442 loans, representing 36 per cent of the total number of loans provided by the bank. The total amount that was given for this sector reached OMR16,652,650.
Major part
The industry and crafts sector formed 78 per cent of the total amount of loans disbursed for the economic sectors.
A major part of the loans has been disbursed to the industrial sector as the bank wanted to increase investment in the industrial areas in various governorates and to cooperate with the government strategy of expansion in industrial investments and industrial zones.
ODB disbursed 1,152 loans to the fisheries sector representing 29 per cent of the total loans, with a value of OMR4,798,651. The sector came second in terms of the number of loans disbursed by the bank.
The Agriculture and Livestock sector came third after being extended 657 loans, which represented 16 per cent of the total number of loans given, for a total amount of OMR4,216,974.
A total of 600 loans were disbursed by the bank for general professional services, which is 15 per cent of the total number of loans, valued at OMR3,936,053.
A total of 79 loans were provided by ODB for the education sector, representing 2 per cent of the total number of loans, for a total amount of OMR2,972,220 (Two million nine hundred and twenty seven thousand and two hundred twenty Riyals Omani). The bank funds projects in the field of education, like establishing private schools, colleges, and universities.
In the health sector, the number of loans reached 23, for a total OMR1,610,675.
For the tourism sector, 31 projects were funded by the bank for a total amount of OMR4,594,275.