Borrowers from ODB benefit from loan deferment

Muscat: Oman Development Bank (ODB) granted more than 11,800 development and emergency loans, worth OMR68.8 million in 2020 compared to OMR60.75 million in 2019, registering an increase of 13 percent.

In 2020, the bank implemented a loan deferral programme to alleviate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beneficiaries of its services.

This programme benefited about 2,800 borrowers. The bank launched orientation programmes for entrepreneurs and these were followed by more than 4,400 interested persons in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector.

ODB indicated that the emergency loan programme, which was approved by His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik, accounted for 28 percent of the volume of granted loans. The number of beneficiaries exceeded 8,000 projects with a total value of approximately OMR19.2 million.

The working capital loans constituted the largest value-share of the loans, with a total value of OMR13.9 million granted for 420 loans, out of more than 3,784 regular development loans, with a value of about OMR49.53 million, followed by the micro-loans that exceeded last year 3,100 loans with a total value of OMR13.4 million.

The total value of loans granted to large companies surpassed OMR12.5 million for 18 development loans. The number of loans granted to the SME sector reached 192 with a total value of OMR9.6 million. The bank granted 41 seasonal loans with a total value of OMR190,000.

The bank granted last year 3,000 industrial loans to the manufacturing sector, with a total value of OMR22.4 million, followed by the professional and public services sector which obtained the largest number of loans with 5,588, worth more than OMR17.1 million.

The tourism sector came third in terms of the value of approved loans in 2020. The bank granted 470 loans for tourism projects with a total value of OMR8.7 million, followed by the fisheries sector with 1,277 loans with a total value of OMR8.1 million.

The loans granted to the educational sector amounted to more than 1,151 with a total value of OMR6.9 million. The bank granted 569 agricultural loans to the agricultural and livestock sector, with a total value of OMR3.9 million. It granted 44 loans to the health sector, with a total value of OMR1.4 million, and 16 loans to the mining sector, with a total value of OMR300,000.