An increase in spending allied with lower revenues to create a deficit in Oman’s budget in the first quarter of 2025, official data showed on Wednesday.

The shortfall is in contrast with a large fiscal surplus recorded by the Gulf nation in the past two years mainly due to high oil prices.

Finance Ministry figures showed the budget recorded a deficit of around 136 million Omani rials ($354 million) in the first quarter of this year compared with a surplus of OMR 162 million ($421 million) in the first quarter of 2024.

Revenues declined by around seven percent to OMR 2.6 billion ($6.7 billion) in the first quarter of 2025 while expenditure grew by nearly four percent to around OMR 2.77 billion ($7.2 billion) in the same period.

The report, published by the official Oman News Agency, showed the decline in total revenues was a result of a fall of about 13 percent in oil export earnings to nearly OMR1.47 billion ($3.8 billion) in the first quarter of 2025.

Gas revenues also edged down by around two percent to nearly OMR436 million ($1.13 billion) in the same period.

Figures by Oman’s Oil Ministry showed the decline in oil revenues was caused by a drop in average oil prices to around $76 a barrel in the first quarter from $80 in the same period of last year. Oman’s oil production also receded to nearly 986,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 997,000 bpd during that period.

Oman, which is not an OPEC member but coordinates with grouping on output and price policies, recorded an actual budget surplus of OMR 830 million ($2.2 billion) in 2024 and about OMR 520 million ($1.35 billion) in the first 10 months of 2024.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.