Industry

In addition to the three major port and free zone complexes at Sohar, Duqm and Salalah, a handful of industrial estates and zones are also operating around the sultanate. Aimed at diversifying industry and boosting incomes in governorates beyond the capital regions, these facilities also face some of the same challenges as the larger zones....

Covering some 309,000 sq km and home to landscapes as varied as rugged mountains, long coastlines, rocky deserts, fertile oases and land watered by monsoon rains, Oman is a large and diverse country. Its 4.3m inhabitants also hail from a number of different ethnic and linguistic groups, tribes and nations, with this variety also evident in the...

Despite having different consumer patterns and a less developed domestic retail market than some of its GCC neighbours, the Omani retail sector nonetheless continues to experience stable growth, attracting investment from local and regional developers, as well as interest from leading global brands.

With a growing population and an economic development plan focused on industrial expansion, Oman’s utilities sector is looking to keep pace with rising demand. Fortunately, as far as the country’s power sector is concerned, market reforms stretching back almost two decades ensure that it is among the most competitive in the GCC, well capable...