Supreme Council for Planning takes stock of economy, progress of Oman's diversification initiative

Muscat: Implementation of initiatives and projects of the National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification (Tanfeedh) was among the issues reviewed at a meeting of the Sultanates plan panel on Monday.
The Supreme Council for Planning held its third meeting of the year under the chair of Dr. Ali bin Masood bin Ali Al Sunaidi, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Planning.
The Council reviewed Oman’s economic performance report, GDP indicators, inflation rates that remained very low, and reviewed the MSM performance during the third quarter of the current year.
The Council also discussed the operational steps and measures taken for the approved strategic projects and ways to address the challenges facing the implementation of some of these projects and available funding alternatives.
The meeting also reviewed the main economic indicators and the target value of the economic diversification sectors of the Tanfeedh programme.
The Council hailed the beginning of the fisheries laboratories which is hoped to come out with a package of projects aimed at increasing the contribution of this main sector in the output, availing new employment opportunities in the fisheries sector and other related sectors as one of the five sectors underpinning the Ninth Five-Year Development Plan.
The Council also reviewed the performance evaluation for the first year 2016 of the Ninth Five-Year Development Plan (2016-2020) in the light of the international and regional changes in the performance of the world oil markets and the expectations over the next three years of the plan in order to sustain and promote economic and social development.
The Council reviewed the actual disbursement status of the development program for the Ninth Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), as well as discussing the new priority development projects for ministries and government units proposed for implementation during the remaining years of the plan, in addition to a number of other topics and took appropriate decisions in their regard.