VOL. XLIII

No. 20

15-May-2000

OMAN

Omani Banks See 1999 Profits Dip And Provisions Bolstered...

1999 posed a series of transitional challenges for Omans domestic banking sector, challenges clearly reflected by the 16.4% downturn in the sectors profits last year following a three-year run of average profit growth of 57% in 1995-97 (MEES, 2 August 1999). Fve of the sectors six banks recorded a fall in profits, with only Bank Dhofar al-Omani al-Fransi recording an increase of 8.5%. The average...