FINANCIAL NEWS

Oman records USD8.4b budget surplus in 2012

16 Feb 2013

(MENAFN) Oman’s finance ministry said the Sultanate achieved USD8.4 billion budget surplus in 2012, a figure so different from USD2.6 billion in its minister’s initial estimate in January, Reuters reported.

The ministry’s figure, helped by higher oil prices, was compared to USD293.2 million deficit booked in 2011.

The surplus is equivalent to 12 per cent of the Sultanate’s 2011 gross domestic product, according to a Reuters calculation based on the latest official data.

Minister for Financial Affairs Darwish al-Balushi had estimated last month that actual
2012 state expenditure was about USD33.7 billion, which would have produced a budget surplus of about USD2.6 billion.

The ministry also revised its initially reported 2011 revenue figure sharply down, resulting in a small deficit instead of the surplus previously recorded. It did not explain the change.

Oman had based its 2012 budget plan on a projected oil price of USD75 a barrel and predicted a deficit of USD3.1 billion.

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