World’s Best Banks 2021: Middle East
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May 04, 2021
This year was an exceptional one for everyone, everywhere, but perhaps even more so in the Middle East, where the economic slowdown induced by the pandemic was amplified by the drastic drop in oil prices and production.
As a result, regional GDP contracted by 3.8% in 2020, reports the World Bank in its April update, adding that the estimated accumulated cost of the pandemic in terms of GDP losses to the region’s economies by the end of 2021 will amount to $227 billion.
To try and weather the storm, governments set up stimulus packages and borrowed massively to sustain health care, housing and social welfare. As is often the case in times of crisis, structural imbalances were pointed out as major impediments to economic recovery, and decision-makers pulled the reform agenda back from their priority lists.
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Bank Muscat signs agreement with PDO to refinance its employee housing loan portfolio
By: Times News Service
Muscat: In line with its pioneering role in providing banking services and facilities, Bank Muscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate, has signed a Sub-Participation Facility Agreement with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to refinance or monetise the existing and future portfolio of home loans that PDO provides to its employees under a housing loan scheme.
The unique financing structure provides an efficient option for PDO to monetise the receivables of this portfolio to generate cash flow for operations and investments.
Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Waleed K. Al Hashar, Chief Executive Officer, Bank Muscat, said, “We are happy to strengthen the cooperation between the Bank and Petroleum Development Oman, the leading oil and gas producer in the Sultanate. Under this agreement, while PDO continues to provide its employees housing loans as part