Muscat
The Oman government’s revenue rose by 23.2 per cent to 4,091.9 million riyals (Dh39.08 billion) for the first five months of 2018, over the same period of last year, thanks to a major recovery in oil prices.
As a result of a growth in oil prices, the net oil revenue of the Sultanate’s government surged by 34.8 per cent to 2,382.1 million riyals during January-May period of 2018, against 1,766.7 million riyals for the same period of last year, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Revenues from natural gas grew by 17.4 per cent to 682.60 million riyals while customs duty and corporate income tax contributed 88.50 million riyals and 352.30 million riyals respectively during the same period. In addition, capital revenues shot up to 75.4 per cent during the first five months of 2018, registering a growth of 1008.8 per cent over the same period of last year.
As far as expenditures are concerned, total government expenditure increased by 6.1 per cent to 4,836.0 million riyals for the first five months between January and May 2018. This is against an expenditure of 4,557.5 million riyals for the same period of last year, NCSI report added.
Of this, current expenditure rose by 12.5 per cent 3,575.6 million riyals while investment expenditure grew by 1.1 per cent to 1,070.8 million riyals in the first five months of 2018, NCSI report showed. Participation and support fell by 40.6 per cent during the first five months of this year at 189.60 million riyals, from 319.2 million riyals for the same period of last year.
Further, the Sultanate’s fiscal deficit for January-May period of 2018 plunged by 46.2 per cent to 1,095.0 million riyals, from as high as 2,035.4 million riyals for the same period of last year, mainly due to a rise in oil revenues in the aftermath of a major recovery in crude oil prices in the international markets.
