Economy
From The Report: Oman 2016
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Oman’s GDP at current market prices stood at OR31.45bn ($81.4bn) in 2014, up 4.6% on 2013, according to the Central Bank of Oman. However, the drop in global oil prices has put significant pressure on Oman’s GDP expansion. To address this, and indeed to pave the way for a non-oil future, various diversification strategies have been put in place that aim to reduce the county’s reliance on hydrocarbons revenues and stimulate growth across the board. Large infrastructure investment is under way, with the development of Oman’s transport and logistics offerings a key target moving forward. The services sector meanwhile dominates non-oil GDP and comprised 40.7% of total economic activity in 2014. Looking ahead, the government is increasingly aiming to encourage greater private sector activity, with the privatization of various state-owned firms and support for SMEs being significant drivers in this regard. This chapter contains an interview with Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi, Secretary-General, Supreme Council for Planning; and Khalifa Al Barwani, CEO, National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Renewed efforts: As oil revenues shrink, the government is seeking to further diversify the economy, boost employment and develop SMEs
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Oman is a high-income country that has seen strong growth in economic output and exports in recent years. However, the economy is dominated by oil production, and the fall in international oil prices is putting pressure on GDP expansion as well as the sultanate’s fiscal and current account balances. In order to reduce the country’s exposure to oil markets as well as to pave the way for an eventual post-oil future, the government is pursuing a range of initiatives to diversify the economy, including…

Interview

Foundation for growth: OBG talks to Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi, Secretary-General, Supreme Council for Planning (SCP)
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Interview:Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi In what ways have the global environment and local economy changed the focus and implementation of Oman’s economic development plan? SALIM Al HABSI: Major global changes – particularly the international financial crisis, which led to a continuous fall in oil prices, and rapid developments in ICT – have had both a direct and indirect impact on the local economy: including GDP growth, employment, sustainability and economic development. To cope with…

Analysis

Taking measures: The state is looking to diversify its funding options to finance the expected fiscal deficit
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Despite a fall in the international price of oil in the run-up to its launch, the government’s 2015 budget is based around a 4% increase in government spending (on budgeted as opposed to actual expenditures in 2014), to OR14.1bn ($36.5bn). The budget, which forecasts government revenues to stand more or less unchanged on 2014 figures at OR11.6bn ($30bn), is based on forecast average oil production of 980,000 barrels per day (bpd), which is thought to be close to Oman’s current maximum capacity,…

Interview

Smart data: OBG talks to Khalifa Al Barwani, CEO, National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI)
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Interview:Khalifa Al Barwani How is the NCSI coping with the challenge of bringing previously informal and fragmented data into a formal centralised system? KHALIFA AL BARWANI: The challenge we are facing is continually updating information and finding the most cost-effective way to deliver the correct data points. We are now mainly focused on collecting administrative data, which we can disseminate in real time to companies and governments who need it. One key example project is the e-census…

Analysis

Key elements: Diversification efforts are being ramped up to reduce hydrocarbons’ share of GDP
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Oman has long been seeking to reduce its economy’s reliance on oil production. The sultanate’s long-term development strategy Vision 2020 aims to reduce oil’s share of GDP to 9% by 2020 by growing other sectors. Diversification is also one of the main elements of the government’s ninth five-year development plan, which runs from 2016 to 2020. Under Focus Initially diversification plans under Vision 2020 were based heavily around increased gas production and exports, as well as the use of…