MUSCAT, JUNE 2 - The banking sector continued achieving reasonable growth rates and supported the economic diversification initiatives including meeting the credit needs of all economic sectors with more focus on SMEs. The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has introduced many amendments on the banking sector regulations to raise the available credit liquidity. This led to creating a business-friendly environment that enhances the growth of the economy. The accumulated figures for the budget of the banking sector, which include the Islamic and traditional banks or what are known as other deposits companies that give a comprehensive view about the financial brokerage of the banking system in the Sultanate, point out that the credit balance availed by the banking sector stands at RO 24.1 billion. This is as of the end of March 2018; a growth by 7.8 per cent compared to the end of March 2017.
The CBO report pointed out that the credit availed for the private sector grew by 6.3 per cent to RO 22.4 billion as of the end of March 2018.
The sector distribution for the total credit availed for the private sector point out that the individual sector (mostly personal loans) stood at 45.4 per cent compared to 5 per cent for the financial sector companies and 3.4 per cent for the other sectors.
On the other side of the budget, the total deposits of the banking sector grew by 4.1 per cent to RO 22.3 billion.
The deposits of the private sector grew by 2.9 per cent to RO 14.2 billion as of the end of March 2018. The sectoral distribution for the deposits of the private sector point out that the share of individual sector stood at about 49 per cent followed by 29.5 for the non-financial companies, 19 per cent for the financial companies and 2.5 per cent for the other sectors.
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