Foreign investments in Oman exceed OMR16.2bn

Business Tuesday 17/September/2019 17:50 PM
By: Times News Service
Foreign investments in Oman exceed OMR16.2bn

Muscat: The total volume of foreign investments in Oman reached OMR16.23 billion at the end of 2017, compared to OMR15.45 billion at the end of 2016, according to a news survey.
This amount represents a 5.9 per cent increase and a 60 per cent of Oman's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the data generated from the Foreign Investments Survey conducted by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) formed a 56.4 per cent of the total volume of the foreign investments by OMR 9,201.1 million compared to OMR 8,097.1 million in 2016; or a 13.9 per cent increase. As a percentage of GDP, the FDI represented an increase from 31.9 per cent at the end of 2016 to 33.8 per cent at the end of 2017. At the same time, the final dividend volume amounted to OMR731,500,000 and the volume of funds reinvested amounted to OMR136,900,000.
At the end of 2017, FDI generated franked income (after-tax investment income that is distributed by one company to another) of OMR2,043.9 million, made a total volume of funds flows of OMR902,200.000, and provided employment opportunities to 266,149 people with total salaries amounting to OMR2,354.1 million.
According to the findings of the survey, the FDI in investment portfolios amounted to OMR793,100,000; or a decrease of 11.8 per cent with funds flows of OMR106,200,000, in derivative market OMR33,800,000 representing a 46. 6 per cent decrease with funds flows of OMR29,500,000 and in commercial lending, loans and deposits OMR6,295,000 with a 1.3 per cent decrease and funds flow of OMR84,100,000.
At the level of economic sectors, oil and gas seized a total of 37.5 per cent of the FDI in 2017 (OMR4,905.3 million), followed by financial intermediaries (excluding investment funds, development banks, retiring funds) by 29.4 per cent (OMR2,474.8 million), manufacturing by 17,6 per cent (OMR2,134.1 million), real estates and other related activities of telecommunication and transport by 3.8 per cent (OMR638,900,000), trade by 2.4 per cent (OMR279,400,000), construction by 1.5% (OMR164,200,000), hotels and restaurants by 1.2 per cent (OMR152,600,000), other activities by 0.6 per cent (OMR98,100,000), and power by 1.6 per cent (OMR82,900,000).
At the end of 2017, the United Kingdom of Britain was the main source of FDI in Oman by 46.5 per cent or OMR4,274.2 million, followed by the UAE by 10.9 per cent (OMR1,006.8 million), USA by 7.3 per cent (OMR667,500,000), Kuwait by 4.7 per cent (OMR430,700,000), Qatar by 4.2 per cent (OMR386,100,000), Bahrain by 3.1 per cent (OMR281,200,000), Switzerland by 2.7 per cent, India by 2.5 per cent, Netherlands by 2.5 per cent, and other countries by 15.6 per cent.
According to the economic activities and the country of origin, the United Kingdom topped the FDI in oil, followed by the USA and China. The UAE ranked in first place in terms of the foreign investments pumped into financial intermediation, industry, manufacturing and trade. Kuwait came first in real estate, commercial activities, and hotels and restaurants. The Netherlands ranked first in transportation and storage, India in construction and Saudi Arabia in other activities.
The Omani investments abroad amounted to OMR6,447.8 million at the end of 2017 compared to OMR6,507.4 million at the end of 2016 which represented a decrease of 1 per cent. The Omani investments in the portfolio were the highest at 28.7 per cent of the total volume by the end of 2017, while the direct investments represented 28.4 per cent, investments in financial 0.3 per cent, and other investments 42.6 per cent.
UAE was the preferred destination of the Omani investments abroad by OMR422,800,000 in 2017, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by OMR110,800,000, India by OMR78,900,000, United Kingdom and Kuwait by OMR29,800,000 for each; Egypt by OMR22,000,000; and Bahrain by OMR11,300,000.