Credit granted by banks in Oman rises by 2.5%

Muscat: An analysis of the activities of Oman's commercial banks between December 2022 and December 2023 indicates continued credit growth in the Sultanate of Oman. The total credit granted by the banks increased by 2.5 percent.

Credit granted to the private sector increased by 2.9 percent to reach OMR20 billion by the end of December 2023.
According to data, total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities witnessed an increase of 16.6 percent to reach about OMR5 billion by the end of December 2023.

Banks investment in government development bonds (GDBs) registered a drop of 12.9 percent in 2023 compared to the same period at the end of 2022, reaching OMR1.9 billion.

As for investments in foreign securities, it also witnessed an increase of 98 percent to reach OMR1.7 billion by the end of December 2023.

On the other liabilities side, total deposits with traditional commercial banks recorded an increase of 12.2 percent to reach OMR23.5 billion by the end of December 2023.

Among the total deposits, government deposits with commercial banks registered an increase of 2.5 percent to reach about OMR5 billion, as well as deposits of public sector institutions, which increased by 57.8 percent to reach about OMR2.2 billion during the same period.

Private sector deposits recorded an increase of 9.5 percent to reach OMR15.6 billion in December 2023, constituting 66.2 percent of total deposits with traditional commercial banks.

Assets of Islamic banking sector reach OMR7.3bn
Muscat: The total assets of Islamic banks and windows combined rose to about OMR7.3 billion, or 17.5 percent of the total assets of the banking sector in the Sultanate of Oman, by the end of December 2023, recording an increase of 14.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

Data issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) showed that the total balance of financing granted by units practising this activity recorded an increase of 11.8 percent to reach about OMR6 billion.

Deposits at Islamic banks and windows also recorded an increase of 12.8 percent, reaching about OMR5.5 billion by the end of December 2023.