Private deposits at commercial banks in the Sultanate at the end of February 2018 rose 0.85 per cent to OMR12.55 billion, compared to OMR12.45 billion in the corresponding period last year, according to a monthly bulletin published by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).

The gross value for these deposits, as of the end of February 2018, includes the time deposits that stood at OMR4.901 billion, savings deposits of OMR4.58 billion and demand deposits of OMR3.71 billion, the report added.

As for the banking indicators for commercial banks, as of the end of February 2018, the bulletin reports that the broad money and clearance to deposits in riyals was 8.6 per cent. The combined money and clearance to gross deposits was 7.5 per cent. The total percentage of loans to deposits was 110 per cent.

The rate of deposits in foreign currency to total deposits was 12.1 per cent. The rate of loans in foreign currency to total loans was 15.2 per cent. The rate of foreign assets to total assets was 10.8 per cent. The foreign liabilities to total liabilities was 12.7 per cent.

The on-demand deposits to total private deposits was 28.9 per cent. The capital and reserves to total deposits was 24.3 per cent. The rate of allocations and the retained interests to total credit was 3.5 per cent.

With regard to monetary aggregates at the end of February 2018, narrow money stock (Ml) registered a year-on-year (YoY) marginal drop of 0.7 per cent to OMR5 billion.

The monthly report issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) showed that quasi-money (Rial Omani saving and time deposits, certificates of deposit issued by banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits) witnessed a growth of 5.5 per cent during the period.

Broad money supply M2 (Ml plus quasi-money) stood at OMR16.4 billion at the end of February 2018, growing by 3.5 per cent during the same period.

With respect to the domestic interest rate structure of conventional banks, the weighted average interest rate on Riyal Omani deposits increased to 1.700 per cent in February 2018, from 1.587 per cent one year ago, while the weighted average Riyal Omani lending rate increased to 5.192 per cent from 5.122 per cent during the same period.

The overnight Rial Omani domestic inter-bank lending rate stood at 1.356 per cent in February 2018, much higher as compared to 0.430 per cent one year ago. The average Repo rate for liquidity injection by the CBO stood at 2.089 per cent per annum during the month of February 2018.