On Sunday, Oman International Bank, the sultanate's fourth-biggest bank according to market value, said that its first-quarter net profit dropped 11.2%, damaged by bigger loan loss provisions.

The bank posted a net profit of 5.66 million Rials ($14.70 million) in first-quarter, compared with 6.37 million Rials in the first quarter of 2009.

The outcome failed analysts' average prediction of 6.02 million Rials in a Reuter’s poll.

Conditions for loan losses in the first-quarter rose to 477,000 Rials compared with 372,000 Rials in the year-back quarter.

Banks in Oman, as somewhere else in the Gulf region, in the past year have recorded more provisos against bad arrears, diminishing revenues and restraining credit increase.

On the whole, Omani lenders are believed to be well-capitalized and estimated to gain from the sultanate's financial development in 2010.

The non-OPEC member still depends deeply on oil proceeds that make up for a huge portion of the Gulf state's Gross Domestic Product.

In March, Omani officers said that the nation hopes to report a budget surplus in 2010 on the basis of sky-scraping oil prices, while economic growth is expected to be about 6%.