Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman’s gross domestic product at constant prices during the year 2023 was about 38.3 billion Omani riyals, and the contribution of construction activity reached 9.1 percent of the gross domestic product at constant prices, and 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product at current prices, which amounted to 41.8 billion. Omani Riyal.
The Ministry of Economy confirmed that construction activity contributes significantly to the overall growth of the domestic product and includes oil and non-oil activities, as the activity witnessed a growth of 2 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, bringing its contribution to the gross domestic product to 3.5 billion Omani riyals.
The Ministry indicated that this activity is currently considered one of the largest sectors in terms of the volume of contribution to the non-oil domestic product, which constitutes 12.8 percent of the total volume of non-oil activities, which amounted to 27.3 billion Omani riyals in 2023.
The Ministry explained that construction activity achieved growth of 1.2 percent and 2 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively, which represents an important positive development in efforts to support the growth of non-oil activities, which achieved growth of 2.4 percent during the year 2023 .
The current growth in construction activity also enhances its contribution to providing job opportunities, especially since the activity is the largest source of job opportunities in the private sector, and more than 49 thousand Omanis are working in construction activities until the end of November 2023, out of the total number of insured Omanis in the private sector, whose number reached More than 274 thousand Omanis by the end of November 2023.
The growth of construction activity during the past five-year plans was supported by the volume of government spending on infrastructure projects in the Sultanate of Oman, including airports, roads, and ports. Then the sector’s growth faced pressures since the decline in oil prices in 2015. It was also among the sectors affected by the outbreak of the Corona pandemic “Covid 19” and others. It was accompanied by health challenges, restrictions on movement, and the closure of economic activities. These pressures negatively affected the growth of activity, and the added value of activity declined from 3.8 billion Omani riyals in 2020 to 3.4 billion Omani riyals in 2021, a decrease of 10.7 percent.
The return of construction activity to growth is reinforced by the positive economic and financial developments in the Sultanate of Oman, which make the economic conditions conducive to the growth of various sectors through the progress of implementing the economic diversification plans in the tenth five-year plan, the approach of disciplined expansion in public spending, and the financial stability that has enabled the strengthening of development spending in accordance with the priority of the economy. And development during the first phase of implementing “Oman Vision 2040”.
Construction activity benefits from the trend towards decentralization, governorate development, support of infrastructure and services in all governorates, and the main economic diversification sectors, especially tourism, transportation, and logistics, including road projects currently under implementation, which include completing a number of main roads and establishing new strategic roads, the most important of which is the Dibba-Lima road. Khasab, Musandam Governorate.
