Plummeting oil income pushed Oman’s state budget into a OMR323mn ($840mn) deficit in October, swinging from an OMR54mn surplus the year before, amid high base effects, the statistics office reported.
Total revenue shank 33% y/y to OMR691mn whereas spending grew 3% y/y to OMR1.014bn in October.
Oman is set to record fiscal and current account deficits over the next four years, compared with surpluses in the previous four years on lower income and higher spending. Oman is selling sovereign bonds to bridge the expected budget gap.
Net oil proceeds dropped 48% y/y to OMR435mn in October, equalling to 63% of total state revenue.
Current spending jumped 25% y/y to OMR590mn in October, accounting for 58% of the total. Capital spending also climbed 22% y/y to OMR295mn amid government efforts to spur economic growth and the non-hydrocarbons sector.
Actual expenditures under settlement halved y/y to OMR50mn in October.
NOTE: Oman’s finance ministry is using the terminology “Actual expenditures under settlement” which sum is deducted from the total, or gross, budget surplus.
Related Articles
Egypt brings new gas well online with 10mn cubic feet/day output
Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is finalising procedures to bring a new natural gas well, North El-Basant-1, into production with an expected output of around 10mn cubic feet ... more
Tunisia kicks off stalled expansion of solar projects with 1.3GW capacity push
Tunisia is finally accelerating the deployment of its large-scale photovoltaic (PV) sector after years of slow progress, with construction now underway across multiple major projects, PV-Magazine ... more
Shell and Petronas seek 20% gas price increase for Egypt’s West Delta marine phase
UK energy major Shell (LON:SHEL) and Malaysia's national oil and gas company Petronas have asked the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to raise the gas price for the upcoming Phase 12 ... more