Preliminary national accounts data for the Sultanate indicate that the nominal GDP declined by 1.9 percent during the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year. The decline was reflected primarily in the non-petroleum sector with a fall of 3.4 percent and the petroleum sector grew in nominal terms by 2.1 percent.
The average oil price stood at $64.1 per barrel during the first ten months of 2019 was lower by 5.3 percent over the corresponding period of last year while the average daily oil production decreased marginally by 0.4 percent to 970,900 barrel during this period, according to the bulletin released by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).
Inflationary conditions remained benign as the retail inflation averaged 0.2 percent during Jan-Oct 2019 in comparison with 0.9 percent during the same period of last year.
The combined balance sheet of other Depository Corporations (conventional and Islamic banks), provides a complete overview of the financial intermediation taking place in the banking system in Oman. The total outstanding credit extended by other depository corporations stood at OMR25.9 billion at the end of October 2019, a rise of 3.9 percent over the level witnessed a year ago.
Credit to the private sector increased by 3.4 percent to OMR22.8 billion at the end of October 2019. Of the total credit to the private sector, the non-financial corporate sector stood at 46.2 percent, followed by the household sector (mainly under personal loans) at 45.1 percent, financial corporations at 5.3 percent and other sectors the remaining 3.4 percent.
Total deposits registered a growth of 3.1 percent to OMR23.2 billion at the end of October 2019. Private sector deposits of the banking system registered a growth of 5.8 percent to OMR15 billion at the end of October 2019.
Sector-wise, the share of households was 49.6 per cent of the total private sector deposit base, followed by non-financial corporations at 30.5 per cent, financial corporations at 17.7 per cent and the other sectors at 2.2 per cent.
