Omani rial effective exchange rate index up 3.8% by May 2023

Muscat: The actual exchange rate index for the Omani riyal increased by 3.8 percent at the end of May 2023, recording 115.2 points, compared to 111 points at the end of May 2022, according to statistics issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information.

The total foreign assets of the Central Bank of Oman increased by 0.9 percent, recording RO 6,767,300,000 at the end of May 2023, compared to the end of May 2022, when the total foreign assets at that time amounted to RO 6,705,700,000.

The preliminary data issued by the center indicated that the local liquidity amounted to 21 billion 287 million 500 thousand Omani riyals, an increase of 4.5 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

The total cash issued decreased by 3.7 percent. Registering one billion and 657 million and 500 thousand Omani riyals at the end of May 2023 , compared to one billion 721 million and 900 thousand Omani riyals at the end of May 2022.

The money supply in the narrow sense (M1), which consists of total cash outside the banking system, in addition to current accounts and demand deposits in local currency, increased by 1.1 percent, recording RO 5,848,600,000 compared to RO 5,783,100,000. By the end of May 2022.

On the other hand, private sector deposits in commercial banks and Islamic windows at the end of May 2023 amounted to about RO 17,897,500,000, an increase of 4.3 percent over the same period in 2022, which saw deposits of the private sector amounting to RO 17,155,700,000.

Total loans and financing in commercial banks and Islamic windows increased by the end of May 2023 by 6.4 percent to reach RO 30,116,700,000,000 compared to RO 28,299,700,000, while the average interest rate on total loans decreased by 0.9 percent. At the end of May 2023, it recorded a rate of 5.444 percent.