Bad loan provisions also resulted in a 7.45 million rial loss in 2001 and a modest loss of 262,000 rials in 2002.

The bank said in a statement that the provisions had risen to 70.7 million rials, buoyed by the poor performance of some of its overseas branches.

NBO operates 53 branches in Oman, five in Egypt and one in the United Arab Emirates.  The bank's share gained 100 baisas to 2.950 rials on the local stock market on Thursday.

Nikhil Phutane, analyst at brokerage company Fincorp, said the shares had risen before the announcement of the bank's results, which were released after the close of bourse trading.

"Investors would have reacted differently if the results were made public during trading hours," he said.