Total assets of commercial banks in Oman increase by 14.7%

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Sunday 25 Oct 2015 - 13:13 Makkah mean time-12-1-1437 (Image from google) Muscat, (IINA) - Total assets of conventional commercial banks increased by 14.7 percent to 27.9 billion Omani rial in August, compared to OMR24.3 billion a year ago, said the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), Times Of Oman daily reported. Of the total assets, credit disbursement accounted for 46.6 percent and increased by 10.6 percent as at the end of August 2015 to OMR18 billion. Credit to the private sector increased by 10.9 percent to reach OMR15.8 billion at the end of August 2015. Of the total credit to the private sector as at end August, the share of the non-financial corporate sector stood at 47.2 percent, closely followed by the household sector (mainly under personal loans) at 45 percent, financial corporations at 5.2 percent and other sectors the remaining 2.6 percent. Commercial bank's overall investments in securities declined by 9.3 percent to OMRO3.1 billion at the end of August 2015 from OMR3.4 billion a year ago. The drop in investments resulted from the sharp decline in bank's investments in CBO certificates of deposit, which fell from OMR1.8 billion in August 2014 to OMR0.12 billion in August 2015. Investment in government development bonds, however, increased by 32.3 percent over the year to OMR749.3 million at the end of August 2015. Banks invested OMR598.2 million in government treasury bills as at the end of August 2015. Commercial bank's investments in foreign securities increased by 12.4 percent to OMR773.6 million in August 2015. Islamic banking entities provided financing to the extent of OMR1.45 billion at the end of August 2015 when compared to OMR0.84 billion a year ago. Total deposits held with Islamic banks and windows also registered a significant increase to OMR1.2 billion in August 2015 from OMR0.4 billion outstanding as at the end of August 2014. The total assets of Islamic banks and windows combined, amounted to OMR1.9 billion at the end of August 2015, which constituted about 6.3 percent of the banking system assets. SM/IINA