Narrow money stock rises by 8.4% in Oman

Muscat: Narrow money stock (M1), when measured year-on-year basis, increased considerably by 8.4 per cent to OMR5.3 billion, according to the bulletin released by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).
Quasi-money (Rial Omani saving and time deposits, certificates of deposits issued by banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits) registered a drop of 0.5 per cent as at the end of December 2019.
Broad money supply M2 (M1 plus quasi-money) grew by 2 per cent and stood at OMR17.8 billion.
The interest rate structure of conventional banks witnessed a mixed trend in December 2019 when compared with that a year ago. The weighted average interest rate on OMR deposits increased from 1.899 per cent in December 2018 to 2.006 per cent in December 2019 while the weighted average OMR lending rate inched up from 5.329 per cent to 5.453 per cent during the same period.
On the other hand, the overnight Rial Omani domestic inter-bank lending rate declined to 2.139 per cent in December 2019 from 2.141 per cent a year ago. The average Repos rate for liquidity injection by the CBO also stood lower at 2.236 per cent during December 2019 in comparison with 2.934 per cent in December 2018.