Nine-point agenda for Oman’s 2022 budget

Nine-point agenda for Oman’s 2022 budget

Muscat: Oman's budget for the year 2022 has listed nine salient points that form its economic and social guidelines for this year. "The State's General Budget for the financial year 2022 is consistent with the objectives of the Tenth Five Year Development Plan," said the Ministry of Finance in its budget report. "The 2022 budget aims to achieve a set of economic and social development objectives." These include maintaining prudent, sustainable levels of public spending; enhancing the contributions of non-oil revenue; prioritising projects linked to productive sectors; redirecting government subsidies to targeted low-income households; maintaining spending levels on basic services; prioritising digital transformation programmes; continued improvement of Oman's credit ratings to increase investor confidence; support training programmes and those linked to job schemes, while boosting job creation; and continued support for small and medium enterprises. "Over the past few years, the national economy experienced frequent fiscal challenges posed by a sharp drop in oil prices, lower oil demand, high public debt, and the implications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," explained the budget report. "These challenges have adversely affected Oman's creditworthiness and borrowing cost. "Moreover, Oman was hit by Tropical Cyclone Shaheen, which took a toll on the community and infrastructure