Credit granted by banks in Oman rises by 2.3%

Muscat: An analysis of the activities of traditional commercial banks during June 2023 to June 2024 indicated continued growth in credit in the Sultanate of Oman, as the total credit granted by banks recorded an increase of 2.3 percent.

The bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) indicated that credit granted to the private sector increased by 1.6 percent to reach OMR20.5 billion by the end of June 2024.

Total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities witnessed a 22.4 percent increase to reach about OMR5.6 billion by the end of last June.

Within this item, investment in government development bonds (GDBs) decreased by 8.3 percent compared to the same period last year to reach OMR 1.9 billion, while investments in foreign securities increased by 67.9 percent to reach OMR2.2 billion by the end of June 2024.

On the liabilities side, total deposits with conventional commercial banks recorded a 10.9 percent increase to reach OMR24.7 billion by the end of June 2024.

Within the total deposits, government deposits with commercial banks recorded a decrease of 0.9 percent to reach about OMR5.3 billion, while deposits of public sector institutions increased by 12.1 percent to reach about OMR1.8 billion during the same period.

Private sector deposits increased by 11.5 percent to reach OMR16.5 billion in June 2024, representing 66.8 percent of total deposits in conventional commercial banks.