VOL. XLV

No 12

25-March-2002

OMAN

Omani Banks Move To Address New Challenges

Quite apart from 11 September, a volatile oil priceenvironment and a global economic downturn, 2001 was not a good year for Omanibanks as the International Account Standards 39 (IAS39) and asset qualitydeterioration combined to create a series of new challenges. The upshot was analmost sector-wide reduction in profitability on the back of significantlyhigher provisioning levels after a similar rise in 2000 (see MEES, 2...