Sunday 01 / June / 2025
Muscat: The total credit granted by the Omani banking sector rose by 9 percent to OMR33.6 billion by the end of April 2025.
Data issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) indicated that credit granted to the private sector grew by 7 percent, reaching OMR27.8 billion by the end of April 2025.
Data on its distribution across various sectors indicate that the non-financial corporate sector accounted for the largest share, representing 46.6 percent by the end of April 2025, followed by the individual sector at 44 percent. The remaining share was distributed between the financial corporate sector at 5.6 percent and other sectors at 3.7 percent.
Total deposits in the Omani banking sector grew by 9.3 percent, reaching OMR32.8 billion by the end of April 2025. Within this total, private sector deposits in the banking system increased by 7.1 percent, reaching OMR21.5 billion by the end of April 2025.
When looking at the distribution of the total private sector deposit base across various sectors, the figures indicate that the individual sector holds the largest share, amounting to approximately 50.3 percent, followed by the non-financial corporate sector and the financial corporate sector with shares amounting to 30.4 percent and 17.0 percent, respectively. The remaining percentage (2.3 percent) was distributed across other sectors.
Domestic liquidity hits OMR25.1bn
Domestic liquidity in the Sultanate of Oman registered a remarkable growth by the end of January 2025, reaching OMR25.61 billion, a 7.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024, when it reached OMR23.375 billion.
Preliminary data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) showed that total loans and financing provided by commercial banks and Islamic windows rose by 6.5 percent to OMR32.47 billion by the end of January 2025, compared to OMR30.48 billion by the end of January 2024. The average interest rate on total loans also rose by 1.1 percent to 5.608 percent by the end of the same period.
In the same context, private sector deposits in commercial banks and Islamic windows increased by 7.2 percent to OMR20.967 billion by the end of January 2025 compared to OMR 19.559 billion by the end of January 2024. Total foreign assets at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) also increased by 5.3 percent reaching OMR7.096 billion by the end of January 2025 compared to OMR6.741 billion during the same period in 2024.
As for the narrow money supply (M1), which consists of total cash outside the banking system in addition to current accounts and demand deposits in local currency, it witnessed a significant increase of 15.5 percent reaching OMR7.32 billion compared to OMR6.90 billion at the end of January 2024.
On the other hand, cash issued decreased by 8.3 percent to reach OMR1.44 billion by the end of January 2025 compared to OMR1.57 billion by the end of January of the previous year. The effective exchange rate of Omani riyal rose by 2.7 percent to reach 119.1 points, compared to 116 points at the end of January 2024.
