MUSCAT: MSX30 Index ended the week down by 1.04 per cent. All Sectors ended in red. The financial Index ended the lowest and was down by 1.23 per cent. Services Index and Industrial Index was lower by 1.03 per cent and 0.97 per cent, respectively. The MSX Shariah Index closed down by 1.82 per cent.
Latest data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) revealed that the total number of guests in 3-5 star hotels in the Sultanate of Oman till the end of December 2021 stood at 1,219,303 compared to 851,757 guests by December 2020, comprising a rise of 43 per cent. The total revenues of 3-5 star hotels grew by 19.2 per cent by December 2021 to reach RO101.668 million compared to RO85.292 million by the same period in 2020. Hotels occupancy rates went up by 44.9 per cent from 26.5 per cent by the end of December 2020 to 38.3 per cent by the end of December 2021.
More than 69,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have registered with the SMEs Development Authority until December 2021 in the Sultanate of Oman. An official from the SMEs Development Authority confirmed that more than 69,000 Omanis have worked in small and medium enterprises that registered within the Authority until December 2021.
Dr Said bin Mohammed al Saqri, Minister of Economy, stated that statistics show a significant drop in the number of job-seekers which reflects the ministry’s efforts in this regard. A total of 63,080 job-seekers were appointed in 2021, the minister said, explaining some challenges facing the ministry in terms of aligning education outputs to the requirements of the labour market including the lack of a transitional programme from study to the labour market.
To encourage investment and to achieve the economic diversification objectives of the Sultanate of Oman, the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (Opaz) launched the Quick Maser service for investors residency requests in the special economic zones and free zones which will be available through the services of the One-Stop-Shop system with an easy procedure, to process requests promptly upon registering in Opaz commercial registration and to obtain the investment license on the same day, through direct coordination between Opaz and the Royal Oman Police.
CBO’ latest statistics show that Oman banking sector’s total credit stood at RO 27.77bn (flat MoM and +5.4 per cent YoY) as at the end of Nov’21. Total deposits stood at RO 25.36bn (+0.3 per cent MoM and +5.7 per cent YoY) as at the end of Nov 2021. Loan-to-deposit ratio dropped to 109.5 per cent in Nov’21 compared to 109.7 per cent in Dec 2020.
Conventional credit growth picked up pace from May’21 to +4.0 per cent YoY in Nov 2021. Total conventional credit reached RO 22.97bn (-RO 24.5m on MoM basis or -0.1 per cent MoM). Conventional credit contracted on MoM basis largely on account of a 0.1 per cent MoM, or RO 22.5m worth of credit contraction in the Private Sector. Government and Non-resident credit registered growth of RO 7.5m during Nov 2021.
Credit to Public Enterprises also contracted by 0.3 per cent MoM or RO 9.5m. Conventional deposits grew by +3.6 per cent YoY to reach RO 21.0bn. Deposits are up 2.2 per cent on YTD basis. Conventional deposits increased slightly by 0.3 per cent on MoM basis on account of a rise in Private Sector and Government deposits which grew by 0.9 per cent or RO 44m, and 1.0 per cent or RO 140m, respectively.
The share of Government & Public Enterprises deposits, which had dropped to the lowest value in our records at 26.6 per cent in Jun 2021, has once again risen to 28.3 per cent as at the end of Nov 2021.
Loan-to-deposit (LTD) ratio rose to 109.4 per cent as compared to 108.8 per cent as at the end of Dec 2020.
Islamic banking financing (Banks & Islamic Windows) reached RO 4.79bn (+0.5 per cent MoM and +14.3 per cen tYoY). Islamic deposits reached RO 4.36bn (+0.3 per cent MoM and +16.8 per cent YoY). Islamic financing stands at 17.3 per cent of total Oman banking credit, and Islamic deposits form 17.2 per cent of total bank deposits. Islamic financing-to-deposit ratio dropped to 110 per cent as of Nov 2021 compared to 115 per cent in Dec 2020. [Courtesy: U-Capital]
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
