Sunday 29 / September / 2024
Muscat: In its annual report for 2023, the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) reaffirmed that the economic activity in Oman continues with the same positive growth, driven by the recovery of non-oil sectors.
The CBO report pointed out that the local inflation rate remained low, thanks to the proper procedures related to the financial and foreign policies taken by the government, which resulted in achievement of good surplus during 2023 coupled with the remarkable reduction in public debt compared to 2022.
The report showed that the actual gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a growth of 1.3 % compared to 9.6% in 2022, due to the reduction in the production agreed upon by OPEC + , leading to the growth of GDP by 0.4%, last year wherein the non-oil GDP growth reached 2.4% at actual value compared to 9.1% in 2022.
According to the CBO report, the actual growth in the non-oil GDP during 2023 is basically attributed to the agriculture and fisheries sectors, which grew by 6.9% and the growth of services sector by 3.5% while the activities of the non-oil industrial sectors decreased by 0.4%.
During the year 2023, the Sultanate of Oman maintained a remarkable reduction in inflation rate of 0.9% which is lower than the rate of 2.5% registered in 2022.
The financial position of the Sultanate of Oman continued to improve and maintain a good surplus in 2023, wherein the financial surplus reached 2.2% from the GDP along with the reduction in the public debt to the GDP to reach 36% at the time the credit rating of the Sultanate saw continued positive improvement during 2023.
The report showed that the banking sector in the Sultanate saw an improvement in performance, where the total assets of the sector increased by 7.8% to reach OMR 41.8 billion by end of 2023, while the total credit granted increased to OMR 30.5 billion, an increase of 4.3 %.
The total deposits increased to OMR 29.1 billion, an increase of 12.3%.
The report expected the oil prices would remain at good levels which provides the oil activities with vital support. The non-oil growth is expected to gradually increase to reach 3% in the medium- term , driven by the recovery in world demand, the continued reforms and attraction of mega investment projects. ONA
