Total credit granted by banks in Oman reaches OMR31.1bn

Muscat: The total credit balance granted by the banking sector in the Sultanate of Oman increase by 3.2 percent increase to reach OMR31.1 billion by the end of May 2024.

While credit granted to the private sector by the end of May 24 also saw and a growth of 3.1 percent to reach OMR26.1 billion.

Data issued by the Central Bank of Oman indicated that non-financial companies accounted for the largest share of the credit balance, which amounted to 45.4 percent by the end of May 2024, followed by the individual sector at 45.3 percent, while the the financial companies sector accounted for 5.7 percent and other sectors at 3.6 percent.

Total deposits in the banking sector recorded a growth of 9.2 percent to reach about OMR30 billion by the end of May 2024. Within this total, private sector deposits increased by 14 percent to reach OMR20.4 billion.

Regarding the distribution of the total deposit base for the private sector, the data showed that the individual sector accounted for the largest share of 50.4 percent, followed by the non-financial corporate sector and the financial corporate sector with shares of 29.4 percent and 17.4 percent respectively, while the remaining 2.8 percent was distributed among other sectors.

Total deposits at commercial banks rise
An analysis of the activities of conventional commercial banks in Oman from May 2023 to May 2024 show continued growth in credit in the Sultanate of Oman. The total credit balance granted by commercial banks recorded an increase of 1.3 percent, while credit granted to the private sector increased by 1.1 percent to reach OMR20.3 billion by the end of May 2024.

Investment activities also witnessed significant growth with total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities jumped by 20.8 percent to reach about OMR5.6 billion by the end of May 2024, while investment in government development bonds (GDBs) decreased by 9 percent to reach OMR1.9 billion by the end of May 2024 compared to the same period last year .

Commercial banks’ investments in foreign securities, surged by 80.6 percent to reach OMR2.2 billion by the end of May 2024.

On the liabilities side, total deposits at conventional commercial banks increased by 7.1 percent to reach OMR23.9 billion by the end of last May.

Within this category, government deposits with commercial banks decreased by 3.8 percent to reach about OMR5.2 billion, deposits of public sector institutions decreased by 1.5 percent to reach OMR1.7 billion by the end of May 2024.

However, private sector deposits increased in May 2024 by 9.9 percent to reach OMR16.2 billion, constituting 67.8 percent of total deposits in conventional commercial banks.