Omani banks have enjoyed substantial insulation from the turmoil of the international financial crisis. Banks across the sultanate have reported robust, double-digit growth performance throughout 2008. “Whilst the non-fee income of these banks to some extent was diminished by the fall in the local market,” said Global Investment House (GIH), “core income growth supported their superior performance.” The Omani government’s economic diversification plans to move away from hefty reliance on hydrocarbons is a major driver the banking sector’s continuous success. Unlike its Gulf counterparts, the Central Bank of Oman has announced there is no need for it to lend money to domestic banks, seeing as the sultanate has no problems with liquidity. However, in order to ease a possible forthcoming liquidity crunch, GIH said the central bank has “relaxed the compliance to the lending ratio requirement of the banks by indefinitely deferring its earlier decision to implement a stricter lending
