The Sultanate of Oman approved the general budget for the year 2020, with expectations that the budget deficit for the current year 2020 will be 8 percent, while the volume of spending will increase by 2 percent, i.e. 13.3 billion Omani riyals (34.3 billion dollars), provided that the deficit will be covered by borrowing.
Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed, Sultan of Oman, issued a decree approving the general budget for the fiscal year 2020, as it is expected that the revenues in the 2020 budget will be about 10.7 billion riyals ($27.6 billion), based on an estimated oil price of $58 per barrel, representing a 6 percent increase of the past year estimated revenue.
According to the budget, the 2020 budget deficit will reach about 2.5 billion riyals ($6.4 billion), representing 8 percent of gross domestic product, provided that 80 percent of the deficit is funded, that is, the amount of two billion Omani riyals ($5.17 billion) through external and domestic borrowing. While the rest of the deficit, estimated at 500 million riyals ($1.2 billion), will be funded from reserves.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
