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Oman boosted project spending by 37 percent in the first half of 2025 despite a sharp fall in revenues due to lower oil output and prices, the Finance Ministry has reported.
Higher expenditure created an actual budget deficit in the first half of this year but allowed the non-OPEC Gulf Sultanate to record real growth of about 2.5 percent.
Total spending increased by around five percent to 6.09 billion Omani rials ($15.8 billion) in the first half of 2025 compared with the first half of 2024.
“The increase in expenditure was mainly a result of a rise in development spending during that period,” the Ministry said in a budget performance report on its website.
The report showed development spending surged by 37 percent to OMR 688 million ($1.7 billion) in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly 76 percent of the budgeted capital expenditure of OMR 900 million ($2.4 billion).
Current expenditures, which involve mainly salaries to public servants, edged up by only around one percent to OMR4.1 billion ($10.6 billion) in the first half of 2025.
Total revenues dipped by around six percent to OMR5.8 billion ($15 billion) after a 10-percent decline in oil export earnings to about OMR3 billion ($7.8 billion). Gas revenues also shrank by six percent to OMR 884 million ($2.3 billion).
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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