Oman’s public expenditure grows by 5.6%

Muscat: Oman's public finance expenditure grew by 5.6 per cent to reach OMR9.42 billion by the end of October 2017, compared to OMR8.92 billion during the corresponding period last year, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information.
Gross revenue grew by 19.2 per cent to hit OMR6.57 billion by the end of October 2017, compared to OMR5.51billion in October 2016.
In October-end 2017, the state's public finance, after calculating the means of finance, registered a surplus of OMR1.75 billion; a growth of 219.2 per cent compared to the surplus at the end of October 2016, which stood at OMR550.6 million.
Out of the finance means used by the Sultanate, whose value as of October-end 2017 stood at OMR4.95 billion, net borrowing stood at OMR4.10 billion, whereas the net local borrowing was OMR350 million. The reserves stood at OMR500 million.
The public finance deficit at the end of October 2017 stood at OMR3.19 billion, a decrease of 33.4 per cent compared to OMR4.80 billion in October 2016.
This increase in the public finance revenue is attributed to the growth in the net oil revenue by 32 per cent that hit OMR3.66 billion, compared to OMR2.77billion at the end of October 2016.
Revenue from the gas sector grew by 10.7 per cent to OMR1.214.6 billion by the end of October 2017, compared to OMR1.09 billion in October 2016.
The capital revenue also grew by 28.8 per cent to OMR15.20 million at the end of October 2017, compared to OMR11.80 million in October 2016.
The customs tax revenue decreased by 23.4 per cent to OMR185.70 million, compared to OMR242.40 million in October 2016.
The corporate income tax revenue decreased by 5.9 per cent to OMR338.30 million at the end of October 2017, compared to OMR359.40 million in October 2016. Other revenues grew by 12.7 per cent to reach OMR1.16 billion at the end of October 2017 compared to OMR1.02 billion in October 2016.
As for public expenditure, the current expenses constituted the bulk of expenditure with OMR6.63 billion at the end of October 2017; a growth of 3.2 per cent compared to OMR6.433 billion in October 2016.
The defence and security expenses decreased by 0.5 per cent to OMR2.60 billion, while the expenses of civil ministries increased by 1.8 per cent to OMR3.34 billion.
Interest on loans recorded the highest growth rate in the public expenditure current expenses as it increased by 290 per cent to OMR207.10 million.
Oil production expenses increased by 2.9 per cent to OMR270.20 million, and gas production expenses decreased by 2.4 per cent to OMR157 million. The investment expenditure grew by 16.7 per cent to OMR2.34 billion.
While the development expenditure of civil ministries grew by 14.7 per cent to OMR1.20 billion, the capital expenditure of the civil ministries decreased by 54.5 per cent to OMR5.60 million.
As for the investment expenditure, oil production expenses grew by 24.6 per cent to OMR602.10 million and the gas production expenses grew by 14.9 per cent to OME538.4 million.
The contributions and subsidies decreased by 7.5 per cent to OMR439.7o million and the actual expenditure under settlement amounted to OMR350 million.