FDI in Oman rises to 13% in 2020

Muscat: The total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Sultanate at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR15,440.0 million, recording an increase of 13.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2019 when it was OMR13,642.0 million.

The foreign investment flow in Oman reached OMR1,797.9 million, according to the data on the preliminary results of the performance of FDI issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The United Kingdom ranked first for its FDI in Oman at the end of the second quarter of 2020 with OMR7,808.3 million, up from OMR7,084.2 million in the same period of 2019; followed by the United States of America, with OMR1,818.9 million, an increase from OMR1,675.7 million in the same period of 2019; and then by the United Arab Emirates, with an amount of OMR1,265.2 million, compared to OMR1,166.1 million at the end of the second quarter of 2019.

The FDI of Kuwait in the Sultanate reached OMR933.5 million, compared to OMR 826.9 million, and that of China reached OMR848.5 million, up from OMR75 million. The FDI from the Kingdom of Bahrain in Oman at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR436.1 million compared to OMR391.2 million in the same period of 2019, and that from the state of Qatar reached OMR404.8 million, up from OMR345.4 million.   

The investments of the Republic of India in Oman until the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR317.5 million, followed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands at OMR337.4 million, up from OMR298.7 million in the same period of 2019.

The FDI from the Republic of Switzerland reached OMR280 million compared to OMR229.3 million in 2019 while the investments of other countries in Oman till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR998.7 million, declining from OMR1,226.7 million in the same period of 2019.

The NCSI data also show that the FDI in oil and gas extraction activities in Oman acquired OMR9.89 billion, up from OMR9 billion in the same period of 2019 while the FDI in the manufacturing sector at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR1.55 billion, a fall from OMR1.64 billion in 2019.

The data point out that FDI in the financial intermediation sector in the Sultanate till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR1.42 billion, which is the same figure as that of the same period of 2019 while the foreign investment in the real estate sector activities in the Sultanate till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR1.14 billion, increasing from OMR719.5 million in 2019.

The foreign investment in other activities in Oman till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached OMR1.42 billion, increasing from OMR904.7 million in the same period of 2019.