Muscat, The data issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) indicated that the total deposits held with ODCs registered a Y-o-Y growth of 4.1 percent to reach RO 24.9 billion at the end of April 2021.
The total private sector deposits increased by 6.8% to RO 17.3billion. The nominal GDP, as per the preliminary data released by National Centre for
Statistics and Information (NCSI), showed a decline of 15.3% during the fourth quarter of 2020 over the same period of 2019.
The contraction was driven by a decline in the output of both the hydrocarbon sector by 23.4%and non-hydrocarbon sector by 10.5%. The Omani oil average price during April 2021 at $52.4 per
barrel was lower by 15.5% than that in April 2020. The average daily oil production at 952.8 thousand barrels during April 2021 declined by 7%.
The Sultanate’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a y-o-y deflation of 0.4% during April 2021. The Other Depository Corporations (ODCs) consist of conventional and Islamic banks in Oman. The total outstanding credit extended by ODCs grew by 3.0% to RO 27.2 billion at the end of April 2021, while credit to the private sector demonstrated a relatively moderate growth of 1.2% (Y-o-Y) to reach RO 23.3 billion.
The shares of non-financial corporate sector and the household sector (mainly under personal loans) in the total private sector credit stood at 46.7% and 45.1%, respectively, at end- April 2021. The share of financial corporations was 4.8% and other sectors received the remaining 3.4% of the total private sector credit as at end- April 2021.
In terms of sector-wise composition of private sector deposits, the share of households deposits stood at 50.9%, followed by non-financial corporations at 32.4%, financial corporations at 14.2% and the other sectors at 2.5%. The combined balance sheet of conventional banks showed a Y-o-Y growth of 1.5% in total outstanding credit as of end- April 2021.
Credit to the private sector declined to reach RO 19.1 billion while their overall investments in securities went up by 40.6% to RO 4.8 billion at end- April 2021. Investment in Government Development Bonds increased by 27.3% compared to the same period last year to RO 2.2 billion while their investments in foreign securities declined by 9.9% to RO 0.88 billion at the end of April 2021.
Aggregate deposits held with the conventional banks increased by 2.3% Y-o-Y to RO 20.9 billion at end- April 2021. Government deposits with conventional banks witnessed a decrease of 8.9% at RO 4.4 billion, likewise, deposits of public enterprises declined by 2.2% to RO 1.3 billion.
Private sector deposits, which accounted for 70.6% of total deposits with conventional banks, increased by 6.1 % as of April 2021 to reach RO 14.7 billion. Islamic banking entities provided financing of RO 4.5 billion at the end of April 2021, recording a growth of 11.2% over that a year ago.
Total deposits held with Islamic banks and windows increased by 14.7% to RO 4.1 billion. The total assets of Islamic Banks and Windows increased by 11.6% on a Y-o-Y basis to RO 5.5 billion and constituted about 14.6% of the banking system’s assets as at end- April 2021.
Among the indicators of monetary aggregates, broad money supply M2 at end- April 2021 grew by 5.8% to reach RO 20 billion. This increase was the outcome of 4.1% expansion in narrow money (M1) and 6.6% increase in quasi-money (Omani Rial saving and time deposits, certificates of deposit issued by banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits).
Likewise, the increase in M1 resulted from the growth of demand deposits by 6.6%, during
the same period under discussion. The weighted average interest rate on RO deposits witnessed a marginal increase from 1.92% at end- April 2020 to 1.97% at end- April 2021. Similarly, the weighted average RO lending rate increased from 5.47% to 5.49% over the same period.
Meanwhile, the overnight Omani Rial domestic inter-bank lending rate fell significantly to 0.39% in April 2021 from 1.83% a year ago, reflecting transmission of policy rate cuts by the CBO in line with the rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
The average Repo rate for liquidity injection by the CBO at end- April 2021 remains at 0.5%, the same as last year. This is attributed to the measure undertaken by CBO in March 2020 to support Banks\FLCs in the context of prevailing economic conditions.
Source: Oman News Agency