The Middle East Economy

At the base of the Arabian Peninsula, occupying a landmass slightly larger than Italy, Oman is the largest country in the GCC after Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the non-OPEC oil exporter’s economy has been undergoing a steady transformation, reorienting from oil toward a more diverse set of service and industry-based economic activities. So...

This year, Britain welcomed the world. We’ve had the extraordinary success of the Olympics and the pageant and tradition of the Diamond Jubilee. From heads of state and business leaders to athletes and spectators, Britain has been showing everyone what we can do best.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up around 16% of the sultanate’s GDP – no small feat for companies with fewer than 100 employees. SMEs in Oman, as defined by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), are businesses with no more than 99 workers and annual sales of up to OR1.5m ($3.8m). Depending on size and sales numbers,...

With its lengthy coastline running along the edge of a sometimes mountainous and often desert interior, Oman is a country of many different aspects. It is both an ancient maritime power and a key desert sultanate, a place both open to the modern world and that preserves a strong sense of tradition and culture. Indeed, while many countries are...

With a well-capitalised banking system and minimal exposure to European debt, the Omani economy is progressing relatively unscathed by the economic gloom prevailing elsewhere. Thanks to a surplus in the first half of 2012, the sultanate has managed to roll out significant counter-cyclical spending measures while keeping its budget in order....