Credit extended by Oman's conventional banks rises 4.4%

Muscat: The conventional commercial banks in the Sultanate of Oman witnessed substantial growth in credit between September 2022 and September 2023, marking a significant uptick in the country’s financial landscape.

According to statistics released by the Central Bank of Oman, these banks collectively saw a noteworthy 4.4 percent increase in the total credit granted.

Notably, credit extended to the private sector by conventional banks soared by 5 percent reaching OMR20.3 billion in September 2023, underscoring the robustness of private sector activities in driving credit expansion.
The total investment of traditional commercial banks in securities saw an increase of 0.2 percent to OMR4.6 billion at the end September 2023.

Investment in government development bonds (GDBs) recorded a decline of 10.4 percent to OMR1.9 billion while investments in foreign securities saw an increase of 82.4 percent to OMR1.4 billion Omani rials at the end of September 2023.

On the liabilities side, the overall deposits with traditional commercial banks increased by 4.1 percent to reach OMR22.4 billion at the end of September 2023. Government deposits with commercial banks increased by 0.5 percent to reach about OMR5.1 billion. However, deposits of public sector institutions decreased by 9.2 percent to reach OMR1.7 billion during the same period.

The private sector deposits rose by 5.9 percent to reach OMR15 billion by September 2023, constituting 67.1 percent share of total deposits with conventional traditional commercial banks.