The Sultanate of Oman has taken additional austerity measures in its budget expenditures for the current year, to counter the negative economic consequences of the Corona outbreak and the drop in crude oil prices.
The Ministry of Finance issued a circular related to reducing the budgets of ministries and government units, with the aim of reducing spending and reducing the state’s public budget deficit.
According to the announcement, it was decided to make an additional reduction of 5% to the approved budget for all civilian, military and security units for the year 2020, bringing the total reduction to 10%. The ministry reduced the budget by 5% last April.
The circulation also revealed the negotiation with the owners of real estate rented by the government units to reduce their rents by at least 10% and stop all unnecessary parties and events such as annual celebrations and launching parties.
The Ministry of Finance called for the importance of fully adhering to the financial measures taken, calling on all parties to adapt to these exceptional circumstances in order to achieve financial and economic stability.
Last month, the Omani Ministry of Finance issued 13 financial announcements with the aim of reducing public spending by 500 million riyals ($1.301 billion) in the Sultanate’s budget during the year 2020. The Sultanate’s estimated budget this year aims to achieve revenues of 10.7 billion riyals ($27.8 billion), this is offset by expenditures of 13.2 billion riyals (34.3 billion dollars), and a deficit of 2.5 billion riyals (6.51 billion dollars).
Source (New Arab newspaper, Edited)
