Capital Markets
From The Report: Oman 2023
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Oman’s capital markets are positioned to play a crucial role in achieving Oman Vision 2040’s objectives, having made great strides in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Oman is currently undergoing a period of wide-ranging reforms and strategic changes designed to accelerate private sector growth and enhance resilience. This has opened up new opportunities in the kingdom’s capital markets, which can be leveraged to finance the development of its economy. Oman has moved swiftly to establish the foundations for rapid capital market development. In recent years it has implemented a series of reforms aimed at facilitating investment, ensuring accountability and aligning local markets with international standards. As recent credit ratings upgrades indicate, investors are poised to build on the robust base in the medium term, furthering the sector’s expansive trend.

This chapter contains interviews with Abdulaziz Al Balushi, CEO, OMINVEST; and Abdullah Al Salmi, Executive President, Capital Market Authority.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Taking stock: Recent reforms and credit ratings upgrades put the sultanate’s financial markets on a strong footing for growth
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Oman’s capital markets are positioned to play a crucial role in achieving the Oman Vision 2040 objectives, having made great strides in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the country in the middle of a period of wide-ranging reforms and strategic changes designed to accelerate private sector growth and enhance resilience, new opportunities are opening up to invest in Oman’s capital markets and finance the development of its economy. Oversight The Capital Market Authority (CMA), established…

Interview

A smarter exchange: Abdulaziz Al Balushi, Group CEO, OMINVEST, on the increasing sophistication and integration of exchanges in the region
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Interview: Abdulaziz Al Balushi How do you expect investment inflows to perform over the next 12 months? ABDULAZIZ AL BALUSHI: In 2022 the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) initiated steps to help integrate the bourse into the regional ecosystem of stock exchanges. The primary objective was to improve liquidity in the local market, mainly by upgrading the MSX to emerging-market status, which necessitates adherence to a minimum set of criteria stipulated by international indices such as FTSE and MSCI. This,…

Analysis

Growth-oriented reforms: New legislation is helping to improve sector operationalisation, diversify sources of revenue and attract more foreign investment
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The local capital markets are expected to play a major role in implementing Oman Vision 2040, a long-term blueprint for economic development. The sector is transforming the economy away from its traditional role in the past decades with a dependency on oil revenue, and in which the government played a key role in the economy as an investor, job creator and service provider. Oman’s capital markets aim to mobilise savings and direct them to the productive process and play a more active role in engaging…

Interview

Strategy for success: Abdullah Al Salmi, Executive President, Capital Market Authority (CMA), on regulations to boost the potential of the financial system
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Interview: Abdullah Al Salmi In which ways will the new Securities Law help to attract local and foreign capital? ABDULLAH AL SALMI: The CMA is responsible for regulating the capital market and the insurance segments. The authority not only develops the regulatory environment for these areas of the economy, but it also aims to provide the necessary resources for broader economic and social development. The Securities Law implemented in June 2022 aims to provide the means and instruments needed to…

Analysis

On the up: Favourable macroeconomic climate set to boost public offerings
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The GCC saw a rise in initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2022 despite secondary market volatility, surpassing the previous year’s record high. The total number of IPOs in the region increased from 20 in 2021 to 48 in 2022, marking a 140% rise. Proceeds from GCC issuers increased by 211% from $7.5bn to $23.4bn over the same period. The growing number of successful IPOs in the region has attracted considerable investor interest. Following an uptick of activity in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, in 2022…