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Economy to grow despite global crisis

BEIRUT — The Sultanate’s economy is set to grow despite the global economic crisis and the gross domestic product will also achieve a significant leap.

“The performance of the Omani economy last year has been good and the preliminary estimates point out that the GDP will grow 40 per cent at the current prices and about 10 per cent at the fixed prices, thanks to high oil prices, strong local demand, improvement of non-oil exports and flow of direct foreign investments to the Sultanate,” said Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, minister of national economy and deputy chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council. Addressing the Arab business forum here, Macki said the Sultanate, thanks to the wise policies of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s government, the Sultanate has achieved impressive progress in its bid to transfer from a low-income traditional economy to a high-income advanced economy, that is characterised by its high degree capability for achieving social and economic growth through the implementation of two strategies, the first of which for the period from 1976 to 1995 and the second from 1996 to 2020 or the one termed as ‘Oman Vision 2020’.

His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, minister of heritage and culture, also attended the Oman-Lebanon business forum held under the patronage of Sa’ad Al Hariri, chairman of the Future Parliamentary Block in Lebanon.

“While the Sultanate, like the rest of the world, will be affected by the implication of the global economic crisis, the financial position of the Sultanate is relatively good,” Macki said. “This is mainly attributed to the sound policies followed by the government in properly utilising the oil revenues. The measure will certainly help the Omani economy withstand the implications of the global meltdown,” he said.

Highlighting the features of Oman’s economy, Macki pointed out that the government is showing great interest in developing the economic diversification strategy as well as developing the tourism and industrial sectors, and developing the regions.

“To implement the economic diversification, privatisation and tourism development programme, the government has made steady and continuous investments and created a healthy milieu for investment, characterised by political, economic and security stability. The government also provided incentives, facilities, tax exemptions and guarantees to encourage and protect investors,” he added.

With the improvement of the investment environment in the Sultanate, the flow of foreign capitals to the Sultanate increased. The gross foreign investment in the Sultanate increased from about RO4 billion in 2005 to about RO9.4 billion in 2007, marking 138 per cent growth.

During the same period, the balance of the foreign direct investment (FDI), also increased, 119 per cent, from RO1.6 billion to RO3.5 billion.