TAG: Oman
As Oman looks to reforms, including taxation, to broaden its revenue base, OBG’s Business Barometer surveys the reaction of CEOs in the sultanate. Unsurprisingly, these changes have met with mixed reactions. Of the more than 170 executives surveyed, 83% said that Oman’s tax environment is competitive or very competitive on a global scale. However, nearly half expect the increase in corporate tax, from 13% to 15%, to have negative effects on local business sentiment and foreign direct investment inflows.
When I wrote about a year ago on the findings of our inaugural Oxford Business Group Business Barometer: Oman CEO Survey, I talked of the “no pain, no gain” scenario for the sultanate’s planners. Our findings back this up – if anything, more explicitly – 12 months later.
All eyes were understandably on Vienna at the end of June, and the gathering of oil ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Their decision to increase output was endorsed by the non-OPEC producers who signed up to the original cuts 18 months ago.