Oman economy maintains positive momentum, driven by recovery in non-oil sectors

Muscat: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) confirmed in its annual report for 2023 that Omani economic activity continued to expand and maintain a positive growth, driven by the recovery of non-oil sectors.

The bank indicated that the local inflation rate remained low, as a result of the sound measures in terms of financial and monetary policies taken by the government, explaining that financial and external balances achieved good surpluses during 2023, with public debt decreasing significantly compared to 2022.

The report indicated that real GDP recorded a growth of 1.3 percent compared to 9.6 percent in 2022, due to the production cut agreed upon by the OPEC Plus group, which led to a growth in oil GDP of 0.4 percent last year, while the growth rate of non-oil GDP reached 2.4 percent in real terms compared to the growth rate recorded in 2022 of 9.1 percent.

The report explained that the real growth in non-oil GDP during 2023 is mainly attributed to the agriculture and fishing sectors, which recorded a growth of 6.9 percent, and the services sector by 3.5 percent, while non-oil industrial activities decreased by 0.4 percent.

During 2023, the Sultanate of Oman witnessed a significant decrease in the inflation rate, benefiting from the monetary policy framework, the fixed exchange rate system, and fiscal policy measures. The rate reached 0.9 percent, down from the rate recorded during 2022, which amounted to 2.5 percent. Oman’s financial position continued to improve, maintaining a good level of surpluses in 2023, driven by favorable oil prices, the adoption of effective measures, and improved financial control procedures.

The government achieved a financial surplus of 2.2 percent of GDP in 2023, and was able to reduce the public debt-to-GDP ratio to 36.0 percent last year, down from 40.2 percent in 2022.