The Middle East Economy

LANGUAGE: Similar to other GCC member states, Arabic is the official language of Oman, although English is widely spoken and understood. Using English to get around or conduct business in the capital, Muscat, or other hubs such as Sohar or Salalah, is relatively easy. Locals do appreciate the...

GCC countries have long appreciated the importance of education for their sustained development. However, the sector, and higher education in particular, has risen as a priority over the past decade with the launch of ambitious economic diversification plans across the region. These strategies seek to harness the potential of the GCC’s...

Recent decades have seen a downward trend in corporate taxation, with headline corporate tax rates falling by 20 percentage points since the early 1980s. The average for advanced economies dipped to 22% in 2015, and investment incentives have further reduced effective rates for transnational corporations. After the 2007-08 global financial...

Like other GCC states, Oman’s economy is largely driven by oil and gas activity. However, with fewer and more complex hydrocarbons reserves than its neighbours, it is under greater pressure to diversify its economic base. The scale of this challenge was highlighted by recent falling oil prices, which resulted in lower revenues from the...

The question of how to shift the economy to be more focused on the private sector is a central government concern. In early 2018 the Ministry of Finance published its annual statement on Oman’s general budget for 2018, setting out the strategic objectives that public spending is driving towards. Among the many budgetary goals referred to in...

Decades of growth in trade and foreign investment have seen economies around the world become more interconnected than ever before. The production of goods and, increasingly, the provision of services have become fractured across borders as corporations create and integrate into regional and global value chains. These trends have been...