Despite ongoing economic pressures associated with the drop in oil prices, Oman’s diversification strategy and efforts to enhance wider revenue streams are beginning to bear fruit, as witnessed by continued growth in the non-oil sector despite dropping incomes and wider regional instability.
Oman’s public authorities are in the midst of a multi-billion-rial investment programme designed to expand and improve the country’s transport and logistics capacities across land, sea and air. Salalah, the country’s largest port, has recently shifted its focus towards import/export traffic, with a new 20-year master plan launched in 2011 aiming to establish multi-modal links at the port and...
Oman’s long history of political stability coupled with its favorable international trade agreements and special economic zones has ensured strong growth in economic output and exports in recent years. The fall in global prices is undoubtedly a concern for the sultanate, but the sustained focus on diversification schemes, as well as the country’s ongoing spending commitments on big-ticket projects should ensure steady growth moving forward.
Oman continues to capitalise on its geographical position, increasingly establishing itself as a major trans-shipment centre for traffic between Europe, Africa and Asia with ongoing development and expansion plans at various ports in the sultanate, particularly at Duqm where a new port and dry-dock are being developed. Coordinating this maritime-based growth with land and air-side growth is...
Although the sultanate’s petroleum wealth has traditionally provided a backbone for growth, efforts are well under way to diversify away from hydrocarbons. Oman Vision 2020 has laid out plans to boost industrialisation within the sultanate and to encourage the private sector to take a more active role in the economy and in the provision of jobs, both of which are billed as key drivers for growth.
The sultanate’s economy continues to enjoy the benefits of petroleum wealth, which has provided budget surpluses in most years and served as a backbone for growth. However, planning is well under way for an era in which oil will not be the main economic driver, with the twin goals of diversification and creating an increased number of private sector jobs at the top of the government’s current agenda.
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