MUSCAT: Oman’s budget deficit for the first five months of this year surged ahead to OMR1,501.1 million, against a surplus of OMR232.9 million for the same period of 2014, mainly due to a plunge in oil prices, according to National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). This is against a government target of OMR2.5 billion deficit for the whole of 2015.
The government’s total revenue dipped by 36.2 per cent to OMR3,858.1 million for the first five months, from OMR6,044.1 million for the same period of 2014, mainly on account of a drastic fall in oil revenue. Net oil revenue plunged by 46.3 per cent to OMR2,325.9 million from OMR4,335.1 million. Average price of Oman Crude dipped by 43.7 per cent to $59.3 per barrel in the first half from $105.38 a barrel for the same period of 2014. However, the crude oil production was up by 2.9 per cent at 175.67 million barrels in the first half of this year.
As far as government expenditure is concerned, public expenditure declined by 5 per cent to OMR4,809.2 million for the first five months of 2015, from OMR5,061.2 million for the same period last year. Of this, current expenditure edged up by 0.6 per cent to OMR3,246.9 million from OMR3227.4 million, while investment expenditure fell by 4.1 per cent to OMR1,078 million for the first five months of 2015 from OMR1,124.5 million for the same period last year.
