Oman's narrow money supply grows 3%

Muscat: Indicators of the cash survey with regard to monetary aggregates at the end of March 2018, showed that narrow money stock (M1) registered a year-on-year increase of three per cent to OMR5.3 billion, according to a bulletin published by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).

Quasi-money (Rial Omani saving and time deposits, certificates of deposit issued by banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits) witnessed a growth of 2.6 per cent during the period.

Broad money supply M2 (M1 plus quasi money) stood at OMR16.4 billion at the end of March 2018 and grew by 2.8 per cent during the same period.

In respect of the domestic interest rate structure of conventional banks, the weighted average interest rate on OMR deposits increased to 1.644 per cent in March 2018 from 1.595 per cent a year ago, while the weighted average OMR lending rate increased to 5.161 per cent from 5.118 per cent during the same period. The overnight OMR domestic inter-bank lending rate stood at 1.330 per cent in March 2018, much higher compared to 0.443 per cent a year ago.

The average Repo rate for liquidity injection by the CBO stood at 2.267 per cent per annum during March 2018.