Oman’s narrow money stock, or M1, when measured on a year-on-year basis, grew by 4.4% to OMR5.4 billion ($14 billion) at the end of April 2016. This rise was a result of the increase in currency with the public by 8.4% and an increase of 3.2% in rial Omani (RO) designated demand deposits.
Quasi-money (RO savings and time deposits, certificates of deposit issued by commercial banks, margin deposits and foreign currency denominated deposits) witnessed an appreciable growth of 13.9% during the period, ONA reported.
The broad money supply M2 (M1 plus quasi-money) stood at OMR15.7 billion at the end of April 2016, up from OMR14.2 billion one year ago, registering an increase of 10.4% during the period.
With respect to the domestic interest rate structure of conventional banks, the weighted average interest rate on RO deposits firmed up from 0.908% in April 2015 to 1.083% in April 2016, while the weighted average RO lending rate decreased from 4.945% to 4.796% during the same period. Also, the overnight rial Omani domestic inter-bank lending rate rose to 0.401% in April 2016 from 0.197% one year ago.
The total issued (traded) cash at the end of April increased by 4.8% to OMR1.68 billion, from OMR1.60 billion recorded during the same period in 2015, data released by the National Center for Statistics and Information indicate.
The money supply, in its narrow sense, constituted the total cash available outside the banking system, in addition to the current accounts and demand deposits in the local currency, which has increased to OMR5.34 billion, compared to OMR5.16 billion recorded during the same period in 2015, registering an increase of 4.4%.
