(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Central Bank of Oman (CBO) said that the total assets of conventional commercial banks increased by 13.6% to Omani Riyal (RO) 27.9 billion in September 2015 from RO24.6 billion a year ago. Of the total assets, credit disbursement accounted for 65% and increased by 10% as at end of September 2015 to RO18.2 billion.

Credit to the private sector increased by 10.1% to reach RO15.9 billion as at the end of September 2015. Of the total credit to the private sector as at end September 2015, the share of the non-financial corporate sector stood at 47%, closely followed by the household sector (mainly under personal loans) at 45.2%, financial corporations at 5.3% and other sectors the remaining 2.5%.

Commercial banks' overall investments in securities declined by 10.9% to RO2.7 billion as at the end of September 2015 from RO3 billion a year ago. The drop resulted mainly in bank's investments in CBO CDs, which fell from RO1.4 billion in September 2014 to nil in September 2015.

Investment in Government Development Bonds, however, increased by 32.3% over the year to RO750 million at the end of September 2015. Banks also invested RO408.4 million in Government Treasury Bills as at the end of September 2015. Commercial banks' investments in foreign securities stood at RO647.9 million in September 2015.

Aggregate deposits held with commercial banks registered an increase of 6% to RO18.2 billion in September 2015 from RO17.1 billion a year ago. Government deposits with commercial banks increased by 1.8% to RO5.3 billion. Deposits of public enterprises increased by 8.4% to RO1.1 billion during the same period.