the Central bank of Oman has announced it will issue a RO100m ($260m) bond with a four-year tenor at the end of October. It will carry an interest rate of 3.25 per cent a year.

The subscription period for the bond will run from 24 October to 4 November, with the auction to be held on 8 November, the central bank said in a statement issued on 19 October.

The bond will be available to both local and international investors and will be traded on the Omani bourse, the Muscat Securities Market (MSM).

It is expected to be used to help finance key infrastructure projects and to increase oil output. The government is planning to spend around $3.5bn in the next five years.

In July, Oman issued a five-year $260m government development bond with a 4 per cent coupon, and an average yield of 2.37 per cent.

Oman is expected to report gross domestic product growth of 4.3 per cent in 2010 on the back of the global recovery in oil prices.