Oman central bank to keep rates low; sees credit surging

* username: rupertbu

Oman will keep interest rates close to zero for the foreseeable future to prevent a further surge of liquidity into the Gulf country’s banking system, the oil producer’s central bank head has said.

The Gulf sultanate has been keeping the rate it uses for draining excess liquidity from the market at around 0.04% at its weekly auctions of deposit certificates, near the lower end of the US benchmark rate range.

“The interest rates will stay low because of excess liquidity in the banking sector,” Central Bank of Oman executive president Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali told Reuters in a telephone interview.