Muscat – The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) has unveiled a new set of initiatives to expand Oman’s digital economy over the next five years, including plans to establish digital transformation centres across all governorates and boost national capabilities in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure.

Covering the period from 2026 to 2030, the programme is part of the government’s broader strategy to accelerate digital transformation and support technological innovation across key sectors of the economy.

Among the main proposals is creation of digital transformation centres in every governorate. Each centre will be developed in line with the economic and technological characteristics of its region to support local development and expand the use of digital technologies in production and services.

Authorities also plan to develop a national predictive intelligence platform based on large language models to support government decision-making through advanced data analysis.

The initiatives include measures to support the growth of national cybersecurity companies and promote the local manufacturing and assembly of servers and cloud infrastructure equipment in a move aimed at reducing reliance on international suppliers.

Plans are also underway to establish an integrated cloud environment to process satellite data for economic and research purposes, while authorities are studying the development of a national payment card to enhance financial independence in the digital payments sector.

MTCIT outlined the progress of the sector in a report titled ‘Harvesting the Digital Economy in the Sultanate of Oman: From Establishment to Empowerment’, which reviews developments between 2021 and 2025.

According to the report, the digital economy contributed about RO800mn to the national economy in 2023, reflecting its growing role in economic diversification.

H E Dr Ali bin Amer Al Shidhani, Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology, informed that the National Programme for the Digital Economy (2021–2025)  achieved progress in several areas, including launch of the unified digital government services portal and the national Tajawob platform for proposals and reports.

More than 2,200 government services and permits have been digitised over the past five years, while annual digital government transactions exceeded 29mn.

The report also noted that investments in artificial intelligence exceeded RO79mn, while more than 11,000 Omanis were trained in digital skills through the Makin initiative to support the technology labour market.

Key Facts:

• Digital centres planned in all governorates
• AI platform to support government decisions
• 10% GDP target for digital economy by 2040
• RO79mn invested in artificial intelligence
• 2,200 services digitised in five years

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