MUSCAT: The bilateral trade between Oman and India is expected to remain stable at $3.8 billion for 2016-2017 financial year, mainly due to a fall in commodity prices.Unlike Oman and other Gulf countries, India follows April-March as the country’s financial year. “The bilateral trade between Oman and India was $3.8 billion last year ending March 2016 and it may remain at the same level this year as well,” said Indra Mani Pandey, India’s Ambassador to the Sultanate. He was talking to the media on the sidelines of the fifth Arab-India Partnership Conference here on Wednesday.
The conference was organised under the auspices of His Highness SayyidKamil bin Fahd Al Said, Assistant Secretary General for the Cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers of Oman. The ambassador said that the two-way trade between the two countries has declined in the last two years, mainly on account of a fall in commodity prices. Fertiliser constitutes a sizable share of India’s imports from the Sultanate. For the financial year ending March 2014, the bilateral trade between both countries was $5.7 billion, which declined to $4.2 billion in the following year and further fell to $3.8 billion for the financial year ending March 2016, noted Pandey. However, he said that the bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to grow next financial year in view of a recent recovery in commodity prices.
