Islamic finance demand strong in Oman despite challenges
Published 02 Mar,2021 via Muscat Daily - Despite the pandemic-driven weakening in operating environment of the overall banking sector, Oman’s Islamic banking and finance industry continued to expand in 2020 as demand for Sharia’a-compliant products remains strong and resilient in the sultanate.
As the coronavirus crisis and lower oil prices pushed Oman’s economy into recession last year, the sultanate’s conventional banks witnessed significantly slower growth in bank credit and deposits. In contrast, Islamic banking industry recorded robust growth in financing activity and deposits in 2020.
The Central Bank of Oman’s latest statistics showed that Islamic banking entities provided financing of RO4.3bn at the end of December 2020, recording a robust growth of 9.5 per cent compared to the previous year, while conventional banks showed a slow year-on-year credit growth of 2.2 per cent in 2020.
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