The Middle East

The insurance industry in Oman has been going through a period of change in recent years, alongside its continued expansion. The authorities have recently made regulatory alterations aimed primarily at encouraging consolidation in the somewhat crowded sector. Penetration levels are low by Western standards, leaving a great deal of room for...

From the start, one of our primary aims was to bring education to every part of the sultanate, so that every member of the population could acquire the schooling he or she was entitled to. This country was facing a great challenge in its battle to overcome the result of long years of isolation and backwardness. Therefore, we began a difficult...

Oman has long been seeking to reduce its economy’s reliance on oil production. The sultanate’s long-term development strategy Vision 2020 aims to reduce oil’s share of GDP to 9% by 2020 by growing other sectors. Diversification is also one of the main elements of the government’s ninth five-year development plan, which runs from 2016 to 2020...

Oman is a high-income country that has seen strong growth in economic output and exports in recent years. However, the economy is dominated by oil production, and the fall in international oil prices is putting pressure on GDP expansion as well as the sultanate’s fiscal and current account balances. In order to reduce the country’s exposure to...

Strong asset growth and the expansion of the newly launched sharia-compliant segment have been central to developments in Oman’s banking sector in recent years. A small number of institutions account for the bulk of market share, and this concentration is set to increase if a planned merger between Bank Sohar and Bank Dhofar goes ahead. The...