‘Budget 2024 is growth oriented’

‘Budget 2024 is growth oriented’

Oman’s budget for 2024, aligned with his Majesty’s Vision 2040 strategy, has earned wide applause from different corners of the society concidering it a highly pragmatic and growth oriented.Business experts living in the Sultanate of Oman hailed the Five-year plan and the medium term fiscal plan as a futuristic economic plan as the budget provides for establishment three funds with a total outlay of RO 4.4 billion including RO 1.9 billion towards providing 60,000 housing loans, RO 2 billion towards strengthening the investment portfolio of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) in various sectors of the country RO 500 million towards providing loans through the Development Bank to projects which will add value to the local economy.“This is a commendable allocation to make the private sector part of the nation building exercise,” opined Davis Kallookkaran, Founding Managing Partner at Howarth Crowe, a leading audit firm.“Again the revenue projected in the budget is very conservative with the oil prices at USD 60, the deficit of RO 640 million is very minimal and we are hopeful that given the optimism in the economy, the 2024 budget will turn out to be a surplus one,” he added.Commenting on the budget, Abdul Latif Uppala, first