Muscat: Credit extended to the private sector climbed 2.7 percent, reaching RO 20.7 billion, underscoring renewed confidence in local businesses.

On the investment front, traditional commercial banks increased their total investments in securities by a robust 24.6 percent, hitting RO 6 billion. Leading this surge, investments in government development bonds rose by 3.2 percent to RO 2 billion, while foreign securities investments jumped a remarkable 52.9 percent to RO 2.4 billion.

On the liabilities side, total deposits with conventional commercial banks swelled by 8.1 percent to RO 24.9 billion. Within this figure, government deposits grew by 6.7 percent to RO 5.4 billion, and public sector institutions boosted their deposits by 34.3 percent to RO 2.6 billion. Meanwhile, private sector deposits, accounting for 65.3 percent of all deposits, rose by 5.4 percent to RO 16.2 billion.