12.9% growth a shot in the arm for Oman's economy

22/08/2017 06:06 AST

Oman’s economy has achieved a robust 12.9 per cent growth at OMR6,438.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, against OMR5,703.2 million for the same period of last year.

The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) at market price was mainly driven by a marked rise in crude oil price in the international market, shows the monthly report released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on Monday.

This is the first time that the nominal GDP is showing a growth, within the last two years. “The nominal GDP was on a declining trend in the last two years. One of the biggest factors for a growth in nominal GDP now is an increase in the average price of crude oil – which moved up to $51.6 per barrel for the first seven months of this year, from $36.4 a barrel for the same period of last year,” said a senior market analyst, who preferred anonymity. Oman produced 205.32 million barrels of oil in the first seven months of 2017, against 213.40 million barrels for the same period of last year.

As a result of a growth in oil price, oil sector GDP soared by 30.6 per cent to OMR2,023.7 million for the first quarter of 2017, from OMR1,549.2 million for the same three-month period of last year. Crude oil sector contribution alone rose by 37.9 per cent to OMR1,707.8 million.

Non-oil sector GDP rose by 5.3 per cent to OMR4,607 million from OMR4,376 million during the three-month period under review. “Non-oil GDP also grew by 5.3 per cent, which was driven by both industrial and service sectors,” noted the analyst.

Manufacturing of basic chemicals grew by 14.9 per cent to OMR261.1 million in the first quarter of 2017, against OMR227.3 million for the same period of last year, noted the NCSI report.

Government revenue grows

As far as the public finance is concerned, government’s total revenue shot up by 28.9 per cent to OMR4,007.4 million for the first half of this year, from OMR3,110.1 million for the same period of 2016. Net oil revenue soared by 46 per cent to OMR2,173.7 million from OMR1,489.3 million during January-June period under review, while gas revenue was up by 12.5 per cent to OMR682.7 million in the first half of 2017.

Total government expenditure for the first half of 2017 edged up by 0.5 per cent to OMR5,640.7 million from OMR5,612.9 million for the same period of last year.

The budget deficit for the first half showed an year-on-year decline of 30.5 per cent to OMR2,433.3 million for the first half, against OMR3,502.8 million for the same period of last year.

Times of Oman