Narrow money stock falls 3.3% in March

Muscat: With regard to monetary aggregates at the end of March 2019, the narrow money stock (M1) decreased year-on-year (YoY) by 3.3 per cent to OMR5 billion, while 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 7.5 per cent during this period.
Broad money supply M2 (M1 plus quasi- money) stood at OMR17.1 billion at the end of March 2019 and witnessed a growth of 4 per cent over that in the corresponding period of last year.
The domestic interest rates of conventional banks increased mainly following the trends in USA due to the currency peg arrangement. The weighted average interest rate onRO deposits increased to 1.890 per cent in March 2019 from 1.644 per cent a year ago, while the weighted average RO lending rate increased to 5.348 per cent from 5.161 per cent during the same period.
The overnight Rail Omani domestic inter-bank lending rate stood at 2.581 per cent in March 2019, much higher as compared to 1.330 per cent a year ago.
The average Repo rate for liquidity injection by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) stood at 2.989 per cent per annum during the month of March 2019.