Oman's budget deficit fell 42% in the first half of the year from 1.41 billion riyals ($ 3.65 billion) a year earlier, on higher oil revenues, according to Oman's Ministry of Finance sources.
Oman’s original budget plan for 2018 expected to spend 12.5 billion riyals this year and revenues of 9.5 billion riyals, with a deficit of three billion riyals with an average assumption of oil price of 50 dollars per barrel.
The Sultanate had been planning to start a 5 percent VAT this year, but postponed the decision until at least 2019, partly because of concerns about the negative impact on consumer spending.
In addition to the above, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that Oman's budget deficit will reach 5.7 percent of GDP this year, 11.4% down from the previous year.
