Fitch added in a statement: “The rating upgrade reflects (the Sultanate’s) use of high oil revenues to repay debts, distribute their maturity dates, and control spending to reduce external risks, as well as Fitch’s expectations of rising oil prices.”
Total debt fell to about 40 percent of GDP in 2022 from approximately 60 percent the previous year, and Fitch expects it to reach 36 percent of GDP in 2023 before stabilizing at about 35 percent in 2024 and 2025.
The Sultanate of Oman relies primarily on oil and gas revenues, but it launched a medium-term financial plan in 2020 to reduce public debt, diversify sources of revenue, and stimulate economic growth.
Increased revenues due to higher oil prices last year helped Oman achieve a budget surplus of 1.144 billion Omani riyals ($2.97 billion) and repay loans worth 1.1 billion riyals in the first quarter of this year.
On Monday, the Oman News Agency quoted a senior official at the Ministry of Economy as saying that the Sultanate’s gross domestic product in the first half of the year amounted to about 17 billion riyals, up from about 16.7 billion riyals in the same period a year ago.
However, the GDP contracted in the second quarter by 9.5 percent on an annual basis to 10.1 billion riyals.
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