Oman’s narrow money supply grows

Muscat: The Sultanate registered a 6.8 per cent year-on-year growth in narrow money supply (M1), which increased to over OMR5.2 billion by the end of February, from OMR4.86 billion in the same period of 2015.
Broad Money Supply (M2) on the other hand rose 7.9 per cent to touch OMR15.21 billion during the period, against OMR14.1 billion last year, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Narrow money supply in February was lower than that in January (OMR5.32 billion), while broad money supply was higher than that in January, which stood at OMR15.19 billion.
The total value of currency issued in February increased by 7.7 per cent to OMR1.66 billion, compared with OMR1.54 billion in the same month last year.
Foreign assets at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) slipped 7 per cent by the end of February to OMR6.41 billion from OMR6.89 billion last year, while Private Sector Deposits with commercial banks saw a growth of 12 per cent over the period to OMR12.74 billion fromOMR11.18 billion a year ago.
Commercial banks’ total credit by February-end increased 19.9 per cent to OMR20.54 billion, up from OMR17.13 billion during the same period of 2015. Average interest rates for total credit fell by 3.4 per cent to 4.489 percent in February, from 4.649 percent registered in the same month last year.
The effective exchange rate index for the Omani rial saw an upward revision of 2.1 per cent to 105 points in February, against 102.8 points in the same month of 2015.