Oman on 18 January signed a $1bn loan agreement with several international banks to partly finance the OR3.3bn ($8.6bn) deficit in the country’s 2016 budget. Lead managers were Citigroup, Gulf International Bank and Natixis.
Oman started marketing the five-year loan in November at a margin of 110 basis points over Libor. But it had to raise this margin to 120 basis points as investors demanded a higher return following the downgrading of Oman by rating agency S&P, according to Nasir al-Jashmi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance. The loan was oversubscribed to the tune of $1.28bn, reflecting overseas interest in the sovereign. (CONTINUED - 378 WORDS)
