MUSCAT: Oman’s conventional banks have posted a robust 11.6 per cent growth in net loans and advances at OMR17.41 billion for the first quarter of 2015, from OMR15.59 billion for the same period of last year.
It is more or less in line with last year’s credit growth as the total bank credit grew 11.3 per cent to OMR16.90 billion by the end of 2014 from OMR15.18 billion for the same period of 2013.
Sources said that the credit growth is continuing at the same pace as the government is not slowing down its expenditure, despite a marked fall in oil revenues.
“Some local companies are also going in for an expansion, which is driving demand for credit,” noted a research analyst working with Al Maha Financial Services.
Credit demand from corporate sector is expected to improve further in the second half, thanks to better business confidence in the industrial sector. Hamoud Sangour Al Zadjali, executive president of Central Bank of Oman (CBO), said that the credit growth for the whole year would be in double digits and would probably hover around 10 per cent.
Oman has seven conventional banks — Bank Muscat, National Bank of Oman, BankDhofar and HSBC Bank Oman, in addition to Bank Sohar, Oman Arab Bank and ahlibank — and two Islamic banks. Islamic banks and window operations showed a phenomenal growth of 112.1 per cent growth in financing at OMR1,218.6 million by end-March, 2015, from OMR574.4 million for the same period of 2014, according to the latest CBO monthly bulletin.
