On the back of the expansionary fiscal policies and uptick in both oil and non-oil activities, the Sultanate of Oman witnessed strong economic growth in 2021.
“Despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, there have across-the-board improvements in all sectors”, said Dr Said bin Mohammed al Saqri, Minister of Economy.
While oil activities registered a growth of 25.5 per cent, the performance by non-oil sectors rose by 7.8 per cent in 2021.
The minister, who was participating in a programme “With the Youth”, said that the fiscal balance programme, rationalised government spending and the introduction of some levies including the value added tax helped the overall performance of the economy in the previous year.
To alleviate the impact of the pandemic, the minister said, several measures including stimulus packages, especially for small and medium enterprises, have already been rolled out during the last several months.
At the same time, Al Saqri expressed his concern that an expected increase in inflation at a rate of 4.4 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic has caused major challenges to the supply chains.
“Still, the issue is being addressed domestically through several measures including spending controls, review of interest rates by banks and the same on bonds”, the minister said.
Al Saqri stressed on the need for complying with the fiscal balance plan of the 10th Five-Year Plan and its financial management system aimed at accelerating economic growth and creating more job opportunities.
The Plan aims to achieve a real growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of not less than 3.5 per cent on average during the years of the plan, and to achieve a growth rate of GDP at current prices by an average of 5.5 per cent during the years of the plan.
To address this challenge and correct labour market imbalances, the 10th Plan adopted policies that contribute to changing the composition of work from its current situation. It is expected that 27,000 jobs will be generated annually.
According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information, the GDP of the Sultanate of Oman at the end of December 2021 increased by 16.1 per cent to reach RO 33.016 billion compared to RO 28.442 billion at the end of December 2020.