Credit granted by banks in Oman rises by 1.8%

Muscat: An analysis of the activities of traditional commercial banks indicates continued credit growth in the Sultanate of Oman. The total credit granted by banks recorded an increase of 1.8 percent between January 2023 and January 2024.

Credit granted to the private sector increased by 2.6 percent to reach OMR20.1 billion by the end of January 2024.
According to the data, total investments of traditional commercial banks in securities witnessed an increase of 28.1 percent to reach about OMR5.7 billion by the end of January 2024.

Banks' investment in government development bonds (GDBs) recorded a 15 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, reaching OMR1.8 billion.

Investments in foreign securities witnessed an increase of 156.3 percent to reach OMR2.4 billion by the end of January 2024.

On the liabilities side, total deposits with traditional commercial banks recorded an increase of 12.3 percent to reach OMR24.1 billion by the end of January 2024.

Among the total deposits, government deposits with commercial banks recorded an increase of 0.3 percent to reach about OMR5.2 billion. Deposits of public sector institutions increased by 60 percent to reach about OMR2.3 billion by the end of January 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Private sector deposits recorded an increase of 10.5 percent to reach OMR15.9 billion in January 2024, constituting 66 percent of the total deposits with traditional commercial banks.