Commercial banks credit hits over RO 19 billion

MUSCAT: The Omani commercial banks’ credit in 2016 stood at RO 19.705 billion compared to RO 18.316 billion during the corresponding period in 2015; a growth by 6.7 per cent. The quarterly bulletin issued by the Statistics and Research Department at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) said that the personal loans sector received RO 7.897 billion or 40.1 per cent of the total banking credit followed by construction sector with RO 2.270 billion or 11.5 per cent, the industry sector with RO 1.527 billion or 7.8 per cent, the services sector with RO 1.697 or 8.6 per cent, the import sector with RO 1.145 billion or 5.8 per cent, the financial institutions sector with RO 1.7 billion or 5.1 per cent and the mining sector (quarries and mines) with RO 902.7 million or 4.6 per cent.

The electricity, gas and water sector received RO 794 million or 4 per cent, the transport and communication sector with RO 782.4 million or 4 per cent, the retail sector with RO 668 million or 3.4 per cent, the government sector with RO 107.3 million or 0.5 per cent, the agriculture sector and its associated activities with RO 57.4 million or 0.3 per cent and the export sector with RO 13 million or 0.1 per cent. The bulletin pointed out that the value of commercial banks’ credit for the other sectors as at the end of 2016 stood at about RO 573 million or 2.9 per cent compared to RO 261.8 million or 1.3 per cent for the non-residents. — ONA