Oman has no plans to issue government bonds this year and banks remain liquid despite the impact of the global financial crisis, the Gulf country's central bank head said on Thursday. The global economic downturn slashed growth rates and froze credit in the world's top oil exporting region last year, forcing governments to embark on massive fiscal spending.
The small sultanate was less hit than fellow oil-richer Arab Gulf states because as a non-Opec member it was not obliged to join the cartel's prescribed oil output cuts. "There is no plan to issue government bonds in 2010," Central Bank of Oman Executive President Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali told Reuters in a brief telephone interview.
The sultanate, which plans to raise public spending by 12 percent this year, last issued a government bond worth 50 million rials ($129.9 million) in September 2009. Domestic debt worth 122 million rials is set to mature in November, while Oman's outstanding local debt stands at 252 million rials. The country is rated 'A' by Standard & Poor's and 'A2' by Moody's.
Oman is expected to book a fiscal surplus of 4.0 percent of gross domestic product this year, a Reuters poll showed last month, thanks to recovery in oil prices, after an estimated deficit of 2 percent of GDP last year. Zadjali also said local banks used only $250 million out of a $2 billion facility made available by the central bank in the wake of the credit crunch.
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