Muscat: Oman Development Bank (ODB) granted in 2020 more than 11,800 development and emergency loans, worth approximately RO 68.8 million, in comparison to RO 60.75 million loans that were granted in 2019, marking a growth rate of 13 per cent.
In 2020, the bank implemented a loan deferral programme to alleviate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the beneficiaries of its services.
This programme benefited about 2,800 borrowers. The bank launched orientation programmes for entrepreneurs. Those programmes were followed by more than 4,400 entrepreneurs and interested persons in the small and medium enterprises sector.
ODP indicated that the emergency loan programme, which was approved by His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik, accounted for 28 per cent of the volume of granted loans. The number of beneficiaries exceeded 8,000 projects with a total value of approximately RO 19.2 million. The working capital loans constituted the largest value-share of the granted development loans, with a total value of RO 13.9 million granted for 420 loans, out of more than 3,784 regular development loans, with a value of about RO 49.53 million, followed by the micro-loans that exceeded last year 3,100 loans with a total value of RO 13.4 million.
The total value of loans granted to large companies surpassed RO 12.5 million for 18 development loans. The number of loans granted to the small and medium enterprises sector reached 192 with a total value of RO 9.6 million. The bank granted 41 seasonal loans with a total value of RO 190,000.
The Bank granted last year 3,000 industrial loans to the manufacturing sector, with a total value of RO 22.4 million, followed by the professional and public services sector which obtained the largest number of loans with 5,588, worth more than RO 17.1 million.
The tourism sector comes third in terms of the value of approved loans in 2020. The Bank granted 470 loans for tourism projects with a total value of approximately RO 8.7 million, followed by the fisheries sector with 1,277 loans with a total value of about RO 8.1 million.
The loans granted to the educational sector amounted to more than 1,151 with a total value of RO 6.9 million. The bank granted 569 agricultural loans to the agricultural and livestock sector, with a total value of RO 3.9 million. It granted 44 loans to the health sector, with a total value of RO 1.4 million, and 16 loans to the mining sector, with a total value of RO 300,000. --ONA
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