Marginal decline seen in narrow money supply

Muscat: With regard to monetary aggregates, narrow money stock (M1) registered a year on year (YoY) marginal decline of 0.3 per cent to OMR5 billion at the end of December 2018, according to the bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).
However, quasi-money (Rial Omani saving and time deposits, certificates of deposit issued by banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits) witnessed a growth of 12.1 per cent during this period.
Consequently, broad money supply M2 (M1 plus quasi-money) grew by 8.3 per cent and stood at OMR17.4 billion at the end of December 2018.
In respect of domestic interest rate structure of conventional banks, the weighted average interest rate on RO deposits increased to 1.899 per cent in December 2018 from 1.667 per cent a year ago while the weighted average RO lending rate increased to 5.329 per cent from 5.203 per cent during the same period.
The overnight Rial Omani domestic inter-bank lending rate stood at 2.141 per cent in December 2018, much higher as compared to 1.263 per cent a year ago.
The average Repo rate for liquidity injection by the CBO stood at 2.934 per cent per annum during the month of December 2018.