Monday 13 / October / 2025
Muscat: The Development Bank has achieved a significant milestone, with its lending portfolio for micro-projects exceeding OMR100 million by the end of September 2025. This was accomplished through financing over 20,000 small projects across various production and service sectors, distributed evenly across all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, reflecting balanced regional development.
This achievement translates the government’s approaches, represented by the Ministry of Finance, into tangible outcomes, underscoring the bank’s commitment to supporting micro-projects as a key driver of economic growth and an effective means of empowering individuals and families through self-employment. This aligns with the Oman Vision 2040, which places people at the heart of development.
The Ministry of Finance in Oman plays a pivotal role in supporting micro-projects by: supporting the establishment of the Development Bank as a national financing institution dedicated to funding productive and service projects, making it the executive arm of economic empowerment policies; directing financing policies toward priority groups to ensure equitable distribution and balanced development across governorates; and covering interest costs for projects run by individuals dedicated to managing their own businesses.
The lending portfolio for micro-projects is distributed across several economic sectors, most notably the fisheries sector with 8,761 loans totaling approximately OMR38.5 million, the agriculture and livestock sector with 3,805 loans accounting for 19% of the total portfolio, and the handicrafts sector with 2,898 loans, representing 10% of the total financing.
The prominence of these sectors stems from their vital role in achieving national food security, in addition to their deep-rooted connection to Omani society as traditional and sustainable professions that provide excellent and stable financial returns, particularly in rural and coastal areas.
The Development Bank places special emphasis on supporting startup projects, as experience has shown that many large projects began as small ideas and were able to expand and succeed thanks to appropriate support in their early stages.
