Oman’s public revenues drop 15 percent by end of August 2023

Muscat: Oman’s public revenues at the end of August 2023 amounted to OMR 7.923 billion, down by 15 percent compared to OMR 9.325 billion registered over the  the same period in 2022.

The monthly bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance said that net oil revenues amounted to RO 4.145 billion at the end of last August 2023 down by 10 percent when compared to RO 4.594 billion registered over the same period 2022. while the average price amounted to $82 US dollars per barrel, and average oil production reached about 1.56 million barrels per day.

At the end of August 2023, net gas revenues amounted to RO 1.434 billion, down by 40 percent when compared to RO 2.386 billion registered over the same period in 2022. This is due to the deduction of gas purchase and transport expenses from total revenue collected from Integrated Gas Company.

By the end of August 2023, current revenue increased to RO 2.334 billion, compared with an amount of RO 2.331 billion collected over the same period in 2022.

By the end of August 2023, public spending amounted to RO 7.149 billion, down by RO 1.086 billion, i.e. 13% compared to actual spending over the same period in 2022.

At the end of August 2023, current expenditure amounted to RO 5.463 billion, down by RO 823 million, i.e. 13% when compared to an amount of RO 6.286 million registered over the same period in 2022.

By the end of August 2023, development expenditure of civil ministries reached RO 572 million, representing 64% of total development spending, i.e. RO 900 million, allocated for 2023.

By the end of August 2023, the total of contributions and other expenses amounted to RO 914 million, down by 21% compared with RO 1.150 billion recorded over the same period in 2022. The electricity sector subsidy and oil product subsidy amounted to RO 244 million and RO 206 million, respectively. Furthermore, an amount of RO 266 million was transferred to future debt obligations budget-item.

By the end of August 2023, the State’s General Budget registered a surplus of RO 773 million compared to a surplus of RO 1.090 billion achieved over the same period in 2022.

Oman’s efforts exerted towards fiscal consolidations, public debt reduction and liability management operations, besides high oil prices, led to an improvement in public finance. This also prompted the key ratings agencies to improve the credit rating of Oman, after significant decline over the past years.

The year 2022 marks the recovery of Oman’s credit rating. In their recent reports issued in September 2023, S&P Global and Fitch upgraded the credit rating of Oman. These agencies pointed out that the credit rating of Oman could be further upgraded in case the Government continues the fiscal consolidation measures and reducing public debt, notably external debt.