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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

2.9pc growth in banking credit to private sector

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MUSCAT, MARCH 15 - The total outstanding credit extended by banks and financial institutions in the Sultanate — also known as other depository corporations (ODCs) — grew by 3.2 per cent RO 25.9 billion at the end of January 2020, the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) stated in its monthly review of the banking sector’s performance for January 2020.


Credit to the private sector rose by 2.9 per cent to RO 22.8 billion, the apex bank said. Of the total credit to the private sector, the nonfinancial corporate sector and the household sector (mainly under personal loans) received shares of 46.1 per cent and 45.2 per cent respectively, while the financial corporations received 5.3 per cent and other sectors the remaining 3.4 per cent.


Total deposits held with ODCs registered a growth of 4.4 per cent and stood at RO 23.6 billion at the end of January 2020, according to the Central Bank. Private sector deposits increased by 6.8 per cent to RO 15.3 billion.


Sector-wise, the share of households in the total private sector deposit was largest at 49.8 per cent, followed by nonfinancial corporations at 31.1 per cent, financial corporations at 16.9 per cent and the other sectors at 2.2 per cent.


The combined balance sheet of conventional banks denotes an annual growth of 2.0 per cent in total outstanding credit as on end-January 2020. Conventional banks’ credit to the private sector increased by 1.2 per cent to about RO 19 billion.


Conventional banks’ overall investments in securities amounted to RO 3.6 billion.


Investment in Government Development Bonds and Government Sukuk increased by 15.2 per cent over the year to RO 1.7 billion. Banks also invested RO 274.7 million in Government Treasury Bills, while their investments in foreign securities stood at RO 1.2 billion at the end of January 2020.


Aggregate deposits held with conventional banks increased to RO 20.1 billion in January 2019, registering a growth of 3.9 per cent over the level a year ago. Government deposits with conventional banks decreased by 2.9 per cent to RO 5.2 billion, while deposits of public enterprises increased by 24.4 per cent to RO 1.4 billion. Private sector deposits, which accounted for 65 per cent of total deposits with conventional banks, increased by 4.9 per cent to RO 13.1 billion, the CBO report noted.


Islamic banking entities provided financing to the extent of about RO 4 billion at the end of January 2020, recording a growth of 10.5 per cent over that a year ago.


Total deposits held with Islamic banks and windows increased by 7.7 per cent to RO 3.5 billion. The total assets of Islamic banks and Windows stood at RO 4.9 billion and constituted about 14 per cent of the banking system assets as of end-January 2020.


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