Oman economic diversification plan making good progress, says report

Muscat: Oman’s economic indicators showed advanced levels and stages in the plans and efforts of economic diversification during the last period.
Some of the key strategic projects achieved many gains according to performance indicators issued by the Implementation Support and Follow-up Unit (ISFU). While work is continuing at a good pace in other projects, some projects are planned to be completed by 2023.
About two years after completion of the Labs phase of the National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification (Tanfeedh), this report outlines the stages of the initiatives produced by these Labs, which are overseen by the Implementation Support and Follow-up Unit (ISFU), as well as Oman’s plans to promote economic diversification.
As an economy that relies heavily on oil revenues, the shift required to diversify sources of income by promoting investment in targeted sectors takes some time, but the Government continues to pursue this trend by using the outputs of the National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification (Tanfeedh) by boosting the contribution of the five target sectors in the Ninth Five Year Plan, including logistics, manufacturing, tourism, fisheries and mining, as well as moving forward with key strategic projects.
According to June statistical bulletin issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), it is clear that the GDP at current prices achieved in 2017 a growth of 8.7 per cent compared to 2016.
The GDP amounted to OMR27.9 billion in 2017, compared to about OMR25.7 billion in 2016. It is also evident that the value added of non-oil activities amounted to OMR20.5 billion at the end of 2017 compared to OMR19.7 billion in 2016, a growth rate of 3.9 per cent.
The data show that the value added of agriculture and fish activities increased by 7 per cent, manufacturing activities by 9.2 per cent, transport, storage and communication activities by 9.6 per cent, hotel and restaurant activities by 7.2 per cent. The data show that the added value of the mining and quarrying sector grew by 15.7 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016.
In terms of public finance, the Sultanate’s public revenues increased 11.9 per cent by the end of 2017 compared to 2016. This increase was attributed to the increase in the average price of crude oil from $40.1 per barrel in 2016 to $51.1 per barrel in 2017. The total public expenditure in the state decreased by 4.9 per cent by the end of 2017.
The Sultanate also achieved a decrease of OMR1.5 billion in the deficit realised in the state general budget by the end of 2017 compared to the previous year.
The value of commodity exports at the end of 2017 hit OMR12.6 billion, compared to OMR10.3 billion, an increase of 22.7 per cent. Non-oil exports increased by 32.4 per cent. Commodity imports amounted to OMR10.6 billion in 2017, compared to OMR8.9 billion in 2016, a growth of 19.5 per cent.