Muscat: Foreign assets in the Central Bank of Oman reached more than RO5bn but marked a decrease when compared to the assets from the same period in 2019.

This marked a decrease of 5.9 per cent by the end of November 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.

A statement issued online by Oman News Agency (ONA), read: “The decline of foreign assets in the Central Bank of Oman at the end of November 2020 by 5.9 per cent to reach RO5,805,500,000 compared to the same period in 2019, while the domestic liquidity increased by 9.7 percent, recording RO19,99,100,000.”

‘Net Foreign Assets’, as per the World Bank is that it is the sum of foreign assets held by monetary authorities and deposit money banks, less their foreign liabilities.

The Sultanate registered an increase of 11.0 per cent in narrow money supply (M1) to reach RO5.59 billion by the end of November 2020. Meanwhile, broad Money Supply (M2) rose also by 9.7 per cent to reach RO19.09bn during the period as against RO17.41bn the previous year.

Total loans and financing in commercial banks rose by 1.9 per cent to RO26.33bn by the end of November 2020 against RO25.83bn in 2019. The average interest rate on total credit touched 5.5 per cent at the end of November 2020, recording a fall of 0.2 per cent.

The total currency issued until the end of November 2020 stood at RO1,774.4mn against RO1,639.9mn issued in 2019, marking a rise of 8.2 per cent, according to NCSI data.

The effective exchange rate index of Omani Rial fell by 2.8 per cent to 102.8 points at the end of November 2020 compared to 105.8 points in the same period of 2019.