CBO chief affirms remarkable growth in Islamic banking sector
Muscat - H E Tahir bin Salim al Amri, executive president of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), affirmed that the sultanate’s Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows have demonstrated their ability to put their mark in Oman’s banking sector during the past six years.
In an interview with Oman News Agency (ONA), he said that the latest data show the remarkable growth of Islamic banking business during the last period. Total assets of the Islamic banks and windows increased from RO3.3bn in March 2017 to nearly RO4bn in March 2018, comprising a rise of 21 per cent.
H E Amri affirmed that Islamic banks and windows were well represented through a network of branches distributed across the sultanate’s governorates.
He pointed out that the CBO urges Islamic banks and windows to open more branches to meet the needs of customers in all governorates of the sultanate. Total number of branches of Islamic banks and windows operating in the sultanate reached 77 at the end of March this year.
He noted that both Islamic banks and windows achieved good growth in the last period, with combined Islamic banking entities accounting for 12.4 per cent of total assets of the banking sector at the end of March.
H E Amri said the CBO always urges Islamic banks and windows to focus on development projects and business initiatives that generate added value for national income and more job opportunities for Omani youth instead of focusing on personal financing.
He affirmed that the volume of funding provided to private sector institutions by Islamic banking entities amounted to RO1.74bn, equivalent to 11.3 per cent of total funding provided to private sector by the entire banking sector. “Islamic banks and windows are moving in right direction by allocating more funding to productive sectors rather than to consumer sectors, which further boosts economic growth,” he added.