
By Manal Abdel Fattah
Standard & Poor’s issued its first credit rating report for the Sultanate of Oman for the year 2024, in which it modified the future outlook from stable to positive, while fixing the credit rating level at “BB+”.
According to the agency, this is due to the continuous improvement in the state’s public financial performance indicators and the achievement of financial surpluses in addition to government efforts to reduce net public debt.
The agency stated in its report that the Sultanate of Oman is returning to achieving financial surpluses after seven years of achieving double deficits, and this is due to government measures taken to control public spending and control its levels, and taking other measures to increase non-oil revenues, in addition to the positive results from the restructuring of government companies.
The agency explained that the average financial surplus in the state’s general budget is expected to reach about 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product during the year 2023 AD, and about 1.2 percent during the period extending from 2024 to 2027 AD, in addition to achieving a financial surplus in the external (current) account of about 2 percent. In 2023 AD, and an average of 1.2 percent during the years 2024-2027 AD.
The agency has set its expectations that the average price of Brent crude will reach about $85 per barrel in 2024 and $80 per barrel during the period 2025-2027.
The agency also expects the public debt rate to decline from 36 percent in 2023 to reach about 31 percent of GDP in 2027.
The agency expects the real GDP to grow from 1.6 percent in 2023 to 2 percent on an annual basis during the period 2024-2027, noting that the non-oil sector will witness growth of about 2 percent.
She explained that the inflation rate in 2023 was about 0.9 percent, and will remain moderate at an average of 1.5 percent on an annual basis during the period 2024-2027, and this is due to government measures taken to control inflation and protect society from its effects.
The agency said: The government’s continued implementation of its measures aimed at strengthening the financial position and improving its indicators, in addition to the economic measures followed that contribute to enhancing economic growth, and the continued reduction of the state’s public debt will lead to an improvement in the credit rating.