Oman Secures $2.2 Billion in Bank Loans

The Sultanate of Oman has secured $2.2bn through a 15-month loan as it stares at a budget deficit of OMR 2.24bn ($5.82bn) in 2021. As per Reuters sources, the loan is priced between 375-390bp over the LIBOR and comes with a 12-month extension option at the discretion of the borrower. The loan is crucial to the nation, which has an external debt of $10.7bn (~7.5% of Oman’s GDP) maturing in the next two years. The government of Oman has been working hard to bridge the gap and aims to raise OMR 1.6bn ($4.16bn) through borrowing and use its reserves worth OMR 600mn (~$1.56bn). Oman has also been active in the international bond markets, being the first sovereign dollar bond issuer from the Gulf this year, raising $3.25bn via a three-trancher in mid-January. Prior to that, it had raised $500mn via a tap in November and $2bn via a dual-tranche bond offering in October last year. The country is rated non investment grade by all three rating agencies, Ba3 by Moody’s, BB- by Fitch and B+ by S&P. The nation was downgraded to BB- by Fitch in August 2020 and to to B+ by S&P in October 2020 on rising net debt levels.