Friday 26 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate’s budget deficit in the first quarter of 2019 fell to OMR309 million, down 59 per cent from OMR750.7 million in the same period last year, according to a National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) report.
The NCSI report on the Analysis of the Economic Situation in the Sultanate for the first quarter of 2019 indicates that the total public revenues increased by 32 per cent, reaching OMR2.7 billion compared to OMR2.1 billion for the same period of the previous year. The total public expenditure increased by 4.3 per cent to reach OMR2.6 billion.
The data also shows that the gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices decreased by 1.6 per cent, down to OMR7.1 billion in the first quarter of 2019 compared to OMR7.2 billion for the same period of 2018.
This decline was due to the decrease in the average oil price from $62.9 per barrel in the first quarter of 2018 to $61 per barrel in the first quarter of 2019.
The total value added of oil activities declined to OMR2.41 billion in the first quarter of 2019, compared to OMR2.43 billion for the same period of last year. The decrease in the value added of crude oil by 2.5 per cent led to a decline in the oil activities, which amounted to OMR2.02 billion, while the value added of natural gas increased by 10.8 per cent to reach OMR394.7 billion in the first quarter of 2019, compared to OMR356.4 billion for the same period of 2018.
Value added
The total value added of non-oil activities in the first quarter of 2019 decreased by 0.5 per cent, recording OMR5 billion. This decline was due to the decrease in the value added of industrial activities by 4.8 per cent. The value added of agricultural and fishing activities increased and service activities increased by 18.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
As for the indicators of foreign trade, the data shows that the surplus in trade balance in the first quarter of 2019 rose by OMR259 million compared to the same quarter of 2018, to reach OMR1.5 billion.
The surplus in trade balance is due to an increase in the value of merchandise exports by 1.4 per cent, reaching OMR3.7 billion, while the merchandise imports value decreased by 8.5 per cent, recording about OMR2.2 billion, compared to OMR2.5 billion in the first quarter of the previous year.
The monetary situation indicators in the same report of NCSI shows that the broad money supply (M2) in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 4 per cent, reaching OMR17.1 billion compared to OMR16.4 billion in the same quarter of 2018, while the narrow money supply (M1) decreased by 3.3 per cent, amounting to OMR5.1 billion.
Total deposits of the private sector in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 2.9 per cent to reach OMR14.6 billion compared to OMR14.2 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
The total value of loans and financing granted by commercial banks and Islamic windows in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 5.7 per cent, reaching OMR25.5 billion, compared to OMR24.1 billion for the same period of the previous year. The total value of personal loans in the first quarter of 2019 also increased by 2.4 per cent, reaching OMR8.4 billion, where the average of the interest rate on total credit in the first quarter of 2019 was 5.3 per cent, compared to 5 per cent for the same period of 2018.
The total value of foreign assets, in the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), by the end of the first quarter of 2019 decreased by 8.7 per cent, amounting to OMR6.4 billion, compared to OMR7 billion in the same period of 2018.
The purchasing power of the Omani Rial at the end of the first quarter of 2019 increased by 4.3 per cent, where the real exchange rate index scored about 104.9 points, compared to 100.6 points in the same quarter of the previous year.
