Muscat – As per the monthly bulletin of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), non-financial corporations received the highest share of the total private sector credit at approximately 45.9 percent at end- June 2023, followed by household sector at 44.4 percent. The share of financial corporations was 6.0 percent while other sectors received the remaining 3.7 percent of total private sector credit as at end- June 2023.

Total deposits in the banking sector recorded a growth of 4.4 percent to reach OMR 27.5 billion at the end of June 2023; total private sector deposits increased by 2.7 percent to reach OMR 18 billion. In terms of sector-wise composition of private sector deposits, the biggest contribution is from household deposits at 51.8 per cent, followed by non-financial corporations at 29.6 per cent, financial corporations at 15.6 per cent and other sectors at 2.9 per cent.

The nominal GDP, as per the preliminary data released by National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), showed an increase of 7.4 percent at end of the first quarter of 2023 over the same period of 2022. The expansion was driven by increase in output of the hydrocarbon sector by 6.1 percent and non-hydrocarbon sector by 6.7 percent.

As for the real GDP, it demonstrates an increase of 4.7 percent during the same period under discussion. Similarly, this expansion was driven by 3.5 percent of hydrocarbon sector and 4.6 percent of non- hydrocarbon sector. The Omani oil average price at end of June 2023 at $81.4 per barrel was lower by 10.0 percent than that in June 2022. The average daily oil production at 1057.2 thousand barrels as of June 2023 increased by 1.0 percent. The Sultanate’s average Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a Y-o-Y inflation of 1.5 percent as of June 2023.