Support fund saved Oman 

(MENAFN - Times of Oman) The Sultanate has used $300 million out of the $2 billion 'Support Fund' to help domestic companies wriggle out of the recession and may not require the balance $1.7 billion as the economy has been fast recovering from the impending financial crisis, central bank governor Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali said here yesterday.

He was attending a meeting of Gulf policymakers in Muscat, which was also attended by officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The governor of the Central Bank of Oman made the remarks on the sidelines of the meeting.

The banking sector in Oman, which also set up a $390 milion 'Market Maker Fund' earlier this year, has been relatively immune to the financial crisis.

Risk

However, the country's banks faced a risk as two lenders said they had exposure to troubled Saudi groups, which are in the midst of the debt restructuring.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of International Monetary Fund, appreciated the measures taken by the GCC to deal with the global financial crisis. In a statement to reporters after the meeting, Kahn said the monetary policies pursued by the GCC states were credible and provided the much-needed liquidity support to the local banks.

"This support helped them have better economies as compared to others, especially the AGCC countries which are major oil suppliers," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of National Economy and Deputy Chairman of Financial Affairs, Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, yesterday chaired the 82nd meeting of the AGCC Economy and Finance Ministers for the Finance and Economic Cooperation Committee, and the joint meeting between the AGCC Economy and Finance Ministers, governors of central banks and the IMF.

The meeting, which comes in the wake of implementing decisions related to economic integration and cooperation among GCC, was attended by GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah..

Macki said the meeting discussed issues related to finalising transitional stage of the Custom Union, including distribution of custom earnings, custom protection for commodities and trade agencies, in addition to, discussing the Qatari vision related to enhancing the GCC work march.

Transitional stage

He also stressed on the importance of reaching solutions during this meeting ahead of the next session of the GCC Supreme Council in Kuwait. "The transitional stage for customs union should be completed by end of this year, he said.

In the meanwhile, the integrated GCC railway corridor and go-ahead with the engineering procedures and studies, designs and technical aspects of designing came up during the 82nd meeting of the AGCC Finance and Economic Cooperation Committee.

Darwish bin Isma'el Al Balushi, Secretary General of the Finance Ministry said the monetary union also came
up for discussions with the member states agreeing to complete approval procedures as soon as possible.