Sunday 24 / November / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman will celebrate on Thursday, January 11, 2024 the anniversary of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik's accession to power in the country, which falls on January 11 annually.
The blessed march of the Sultanate of Oman and its renewed renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty the Sultan is proceeding with determination and steadfastness, continuing the path of construction and sustainable development, and this is evident in the good results achieved and visible achievements at various levels, most notably social and economic.
In his speech during the opening of the first annual session of the eighth session of the Council of Oman, His Majesty stressed that “the continuous achievements that have been achieved over the past four years in the path of comprehensive development have had the people of Oman’s primary role in it, in addition to the efforts of the various state institutions, which have worked to implement the plans.” We have drawn its paths, according to a vision that aims primarily to advance the social sectors and preserve the gains that have been achieved.”
Since His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik took over the reins of power until now, the Omani economy has witnessed remarkable growth in various economic fields and the achievement of financial surpluses in the state’s general budget, which contributed to directing additional financial revenues to enhancing social spending, stimulating economic growth, managing the lending portfolio, reducing public debt, and developing governorates.
The financial measures and policies taken by the government, such as controlling public spending and improving non-oil revenues, contributed to a positive improvement in the state’s financial performance during the first three years of the tenth five-year development plan (2021-2025), raising the credit rating and future outlook of the Sultanate of Oman by international credit rating agencies and attracting more foreign investments.
The preliminary results of the Sultanate’s financial performance for the year 2023 indicated achieving a financial surplus of about OMR 931 million , compared to the estimated deficit in the state’s general budget of about OMR 1,300 million.
The state's public revenues also increased in 2023 to OMR 12,213 million , i.e. an increase of about OMR 2,163 million compared to what was approved in the budget for the same year. While public spending recorded OMR 11,282 million .
The GDP at constant prices until the third quarter of 2023 recorded a growth of 2 percent to reach a value of OMR 26,433 million . This is due to an increase in the value added by non-oil activities at constant prices by 2.7 percent to reach a value of about 18 billion and 190 million Omani riyals. The added value of oil activities also increased by 0.5 percent, recording about OMR 9,068 million.
The inflation rate in Oman decreased until the end of November 2023 to about 1.03 percent, as this percentage is moderate compared to global inflation indicators as a result of the government taking many measures that had a positive impact on controlling inflation rates, especially subsidies for food and fuel products.
The trade balance of the Sultanate at the end of October 2023 amounted to about OMR 6,370 million , while local liquidity in the Sultanate of Oman increased by 10 percent at the end of October 2023 to reach more than OMR 22 billion .
Oman advanced 10 places according to the Global Innovation Index 2023 report issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization, to rank 69th globally out of 132 countries evaluated according to 7 pillars, as the Sultanate of Oman achieved its highest performance in the human capital and research pillars and the infrastructure pillar.
The Sultanate fifth in the Middle East and North Africa and ranked 50th internationally in the Government Readiness for Artificial Intelligence Index, advancing two places from its previous ranking last year,according to the Oxford Insights 2023 report.
The report covers 193 countries and includes 39 indicators in 3 main axes: government, technology sector, data and infrastructure. The Sultanate of Oman advanced in all of these axes to varying degrees, and the largest increase was in the technology sector axis, with an increase of 2.96 points, specifically in the innovation capacity index, by more than 6 points.
On the social side, with the issuance of Royal Decree No. 52/2023 promulgating the Social Protection Law, social protection benefits will begin to be provided during the current month and 1,467,000 citizens will benefit from them, including 167,000 citizens within the elderly benefit category. The number of beneficiaries of the childhood benefit is 1, 300,000 .
The Social Protection Programme also provides monthly financial support to people with disabilities in the Sultanate of Oman whose conditions require care and support at a value of OMR 130 per month to overcome the challenges of disability, whether the causes of disability are from birth or as a result of an accident. Thus, the Sultanate of Oman has reached an advanced stage in developing.The social protection system includes financial benefits that benefit various segments of society. It constitutes a qualitative shift at the level of legislation and addresses many gaps in retirement programs and the social security system.
The government of the Sultanate of Oman has worked diligently to facilitate access to adequate housing for citizens through a number of initiatives, most notably the launch of the “Iskan” program by providing a loan portfolio worth OMR 1.9 billion over the next five years with the aim of accelerating the provision of financing to applicants on the waiting list at the bank and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, it seeks in its first phase to finance more than 60,000 families over the next five years.
Under the renewed Omani renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty, the Sultanate of Oman achieved tangible transformations that established their roots towards balanced development of the governorates. They were consistent with Oman Vision 2040, with its economic and development axis, establishing an ambitious phase of structural transformations towards decentralized local administration by setting an integrated vision to achieve balanced development between the different regions and governorates,and optimal exploitation of natural resources according to the relative advantages of each governorate to contribute to achieving balanced, comprehensive and sustainable development.
The focus on developing the governorates appeared clearly in the tenth five-year plan, which represented the beginning of the launch of the future vision, and in the speeches of His Majesty the Sultan during his meeting with the sheikhs of the governorates , issuing the law on the governorates system, continuously increasing financial allocations, and implementing development projects in support of the governorates.
