MUSCAT, 29 June 2004 — The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) recently laid down new measures to combat bad checks.
Over the last ten years, the number of bounced checks in the Sultanate shot up to more than 3,000 a month. The bank felt this could harm the reputation of Oman’s national economy and throw doubt on the credibility of its banking system. It could also reduce the value of checks as a method of payment.
The CBO’s recent circular outlined specific measures that would help eliminate this illegal practice.
The circular gives the issuer of insufficiently funded checks with a chance to pay them off gradually, from one to 12 months.
The CBO measures are hardly weapons of discipline wielded for the sake of imposing punishment. They are the result of a sincere intention to educate and reform people, inculcating a spirit of responsibility, thereby contributing to the safety of our banking system and trust among people.
The CBO’s executive president will personally be in charge of the work process in banks through the reports being submitted to him from various banks and from appropriate departments at the CBO.
Thus confidence is boosted in banks that implement the CBO measures against whoever violates the trust invested in checks or weakens its material and moral value.
Omani citizens support the CBO measures, which have already been received with praise from bank management as well as economists and investors in our financial and banking institutions. We hope that implementation of such measures will be backed up by application of Omani penal law as well, which stipulates punishment for issuing insufficiently funded checks.
We call upon citizens and expatriates to cooperate with the CBO and heed its appeal on the need to make sure that there are sufficient funds in the account before issuing a check to avoid being subjected to legal and penal questioning.
