IMF praises Sultanate’s economic reforms

The Sultanate’s efforts aimed at strengthening the status of public finance, promoting growth driven by the private sector, creating jobs, promoting economic diversification, improving labour market performance, building human capital, enhancing the business environment and increasing productivity and competitiveness have been praised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The economic activity in the Sultanate is gradually recovering,” the IMF said in a statement posted on its website, commenting on a visit of the team led by Stéphane Roudet to Muscat. It added that the provisional data on budget execution indicate an improvement in the overall fiscal balance last year. The fiscal deficit is estimated to have declined to about 9 per cent of the GDP from 13.9 per cent of GDP in 2017, reflecting higher oil revenues.

The statement added: “The fiscal deficit is projected to decline to about 8 per cent of the GDP this year, as the impact of low oil prices is more than offset by a decline in spending, one-off revenue, and implementation of a new excise tax on selected products”.