Sunday 24 / November / 2024
Muscat: Several steps have been taken to make it easier to attract foreign investment, and improve operating standards of businesses in Oman, according to Qais Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MOCIIP).
Speaking at a session of the Majlis Al Shura, the minister added that the incentives include enabling business, commercial and investment activities to be conducted after obtaining an initial licence, providing the same treatment to foreign investment companies as is given to national companies, granting residency to investors and labour market and employment incentives.
Al Yousef pointed out that the contribution of service activities to the GDP increased by 50.20 percent to reach about OMR16,571.4 million until the end of December 2021 and that the contribution of wholesale and retail trade amounted to about 8.60 percent as a result of the gradual opening of the service activities sectors.
The total trade exchange of the Sultanate of Oman with the countries of the world increased by 47.1 percent to reach OMR28,986.234 million until the end of 2021.
He added that the number of business registrations recorded with the ministry stood at 349,894 until the end of December 2021.
Meanwhile, the total transactions completed through the ‘Invest Easy’ portal amounted to 789,493 transactions in 2021, constituting an increase by 39.03 percent compared to 2020.
Al Yousef said that during the beginning of the Tenth Five-Year Development Plan, the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the GDP amounted to 9.70 percent until December 2021, with a total of OMR3,195.600 million. Further, the growth rate of industrial activities was 13.6 percent. The manufacturing sector recorded a remarkable increase by 9.70 percent.
He said that during 2021, the manufacturing sector contributed an added value of OMR3,000.2 million to the economy, representing 9.7 percent of the GDP, which amounted to OMR33 billion in the same year.
Non-oil merchandise, Al Yousef added, grew from OMR3.03 billion to OMR5.79 billion, while total merchandise exports grew from OMR11.73 billion to OMR17.06 billion.
He said that the value of direct foreign investments (FDIs) in the manufacturing sector until the end of the third quarter of 2021 reached OMR1,584.9 million.
The oil and gas sector contributed 67.8 percent of the total foreign direct investments, and the manufacturing sector ranked second with 9.2 percent.
The financial intermediary sector followed with 8.8 percent, real estate, rental activities and commercial projects contributed 7.1 percent, while other sectors recorded 7.1 percent.
Work is underway to launch 28 investment opportunities in various activities with the aim of finding investment opportunities in the industrial sector and presenting them to investors, Al Yousef said.
Al Yousef indicated that work is currently underway to establish an ‘Invest in Oman’ centre that brings together 13 authorities concerned with investments in the Sultanate of Oman to receive investors, register them in a database, introduce them to the available opportunities and direct them to the departments concerned. This centre will be opened during this year. Moreover, legislation are currently being worked on to regulate work in small and medium enterprises (SME), including street vendors, home businesses, and self-employment.
Meanwhile, the session which was chaired by Khalid Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of the Shura Council, covered a spectrum of topics, namely the ministry’s vision for the future of industry and evaluating the contribution of the commerce and industry sectors in the GDP, among others.
With inputs from ONA
