Oman’s government revenues dropped by 27.68% from January to the end of April 2021 to stand at RO2.769 billion ($7.17 billion) as against the corresponding period in 2020, a media report said.
Net oil revenues stood at RO1.34 billion, down by 36.82% due to the decline in oil prices and production average, coupled with Covid-19 impacts which slowed the Sultanate’s economic and financial growth, reported Oman News Agency (ONA), citing a fiscal bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance
The bulletin noted that the Sultanate is committed to Opec-Plus production cut agreement.
Meanwhile, current revenues saw a rise of 14.43%, of which RO313 million came from the distribution of government investment dividends.
The bulletin stressed that the state's public spending continues to decline in light of policies and procedures aimed to rationalize spending and raise its efficiency.
As a result, general expenditure by the end of April 2021 stood at RO3.59 billion (RO3.596.9 billion), down by 2.65%, compared to the corresponding period in 2020 (RO3 billion and 694.9 million), while Investment expenditure (developmental, capital) of civil ministries stood about RO143 million.
The bulletin also showed that the Sultanate introduced a new item; a provision termed “Debt Settlement Allocation”, in drafting the State Budget 2021, with the purpose of paying part of future loan outstanding. By the end of April 2021, a sum of RO50 million was transferred to the Debt Settlement Allocation Provision, from a target sum of RO150 million.
The budget deficit by April 2021 reached RO827.4 million, while the local and foreign paid loans stood at RO668.1 million.
The bulletin showed that in light of establishing Energy Development Oman (EDO), starting its operations, and transferring the expenditure obligations to the company in the second half of 2021, the government still continues to pay the expenses of oil and gas sectors which stood at RO554.5 million by April 2021.
The reserves of crude oil and condensates by the end of 2020 stood at 4.7 billion barrels, while the average production rate reached 950,700 barrels daily. In addition, the Sultanate’s gas reserves by the end of 2020 reached 23.69 trillion cu ft, while the average production rate was 121.9 million cu ft daily.
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