Oman's general budget for 2019 is at halfway mark

Muscat: The 2019 general budget, which has to go through eight steps before it is announced on January 1 each year, is halfway complete.
The Ministry of Finance and the Supreme Council for Planning will issue two circulars with regard to the general budget, explaining the projection of current spending and the spending by government units.
Then, the Financial Affairs & Energy Resources Council will review and gather all the proposals made for the budget before referring it to the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers has to approve the final draft of the budget before referring it to the Oman Council.
The Council, Shura Council, State Council & Cabinet will discuss the draft budget and provide comments or recommendation according to the State Basic Law.
Following this, the Chairman of the State Council will refer the draft budget to the Council of Ministers, with recommendations from both the Shura and State Councils.
The cabinet will discuss the recommendations to approve and check what is appropriate for the budget. The Financial Affairs & Energy Resources Council shall then complete all the budget procedures before submitting it to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for endorsement.
Once the Royal Decree is promulgated for the budget, the Ministry shall inform all government units/bodies of their budgets and issue a statement about the budget on January 1.
On Monday, Majlis Al Shura held its third closed-door annual session of the fourth annual sitting 2018-2019 of the 8th term 2015-2019 under the chair of Khalid bin Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura.
During the closed-door session, the Majlis Al Shura discussed the statement of the Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs on the draft state general budget for the fiscal year 2019.
In his statement, Darwish bin Ismail Al Balushi, the Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs, reviewed some of the themes related to the estimates of public revenue and expenditure, management of public debt in 2019, subsidy policies, the government investments status, the economic diversification programme, foreign direct investment and the privatisation programme.