The foreign assets held by the Central Bank of Oman contracted to 6.52 billion Omani riyal ($16.98 billion), marking a 4.27 percent decrease compared to year-end 2022, according to the latest data.
Concurrently, traditional bank lending in Oman witnessed a 4.45 percent year-on-year upswing in November, as reported in the monthly statistical bulletin released by the Central Bank.
The weighted average lending rate increased from 5.372 percent to 5.485 percent over the same period.
The nominal GDP declined 3.9 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2023 over the same period of 2022. The contraction was driven by a decrease in the output of the hydrocarbon sector by 15.4 percent.
As for the real GDP, it demonstrates an increase of 2.0 percent during the same period under discussion. Similarly, this expansion was driven by 0.5 percent of the oil sector and 2.7 percent of the non-oil sector.
The average Omani oil price at the end of November 2023 at $81.6 per barrel was lower by 14.8 percent than in November 2022.
Credit to the private sector demonstrated an increase of 4.8 percent (Y-o-Y) to reach OMR 25.5 billion ($66 billion) at the end of November.
Total deposits held with ODCs registered a Y-o-Y significant growth of 9.9 percent to reach OMR 28.4 billion ($73.97 billion).
The biggest contribution in private sector deposits was from household deposits at 49.7 percent, followed by non-financial corporations at 34.1 percent.
Credit to the private sector increased by 3.3 percent to reach OMR 20.1 billion ($52 billion), while their overall investments in securities increased by 13.2 percent to around $12.5 billion at the end of November 2023.
Investment in Government Development Bonds decreased by 10.5 percent to OMR 1.9 billion ($4.5 billion).
The weighted average interest rate on OMR deposits with conventional banks increased from 1.923 percent at the end of November 2022 to 2.603 percent at the end of November 2023.
