MUSCAT: Oman’s non-oil exports recorded a significant 8.4 percent growth in 2014 reaching OMR4.12 billion, as against OMR3.8 billion in the year before.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the major buyer of Omani non-oil products at OMR776 million, posting a growth of 17.9 percent over the previous year, according to figures released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Exports to Pakistan witnessed the highest annual growth rate at 65.7 percent touching OMR468 million last year, compared to exports worth OMR282.4 million in 2013. On the other hand, export of Omani non-oil products to Saudi Arabia fell by 19.5 percent to OMR436.7 million in 2014 from OMR 542.5 million the preceding year. Exports to India also suffered a 7.7 percent decline in the same period coming down to OMR383.6 million.
The United States (US), meanwhile, registered a strong 19.2 percent rise in imports from the Sultanate last year.
Exports to the US grew from OMR185.6 million in 2013 to OMR221.3 million last year.
However, Oman’s re-exports suffered in 2014, witnessing an overall decline of 16.9 percent, with the value recorded for 2014 being OMR2.94 billion as against OMR3.54 billion in 2013. In fact Oman’s re-exports last year registered a growth with only the UAE and Iran. By value, re-exports to the UAE topped the list last year at OMR1.32 billion compared to OMR1.27 billion in the previous year, marking a 4.2 percent growth. Re-exports to Iran, on the other hand, posted a higher growth rate of 9 percent, improving its 2013 value of OMR122 million to OMR133 million last year.
Re-exports to China and Pakistan registered a fall of 30 percent and 16 percent last year, while the decline in re-exports to Saudi Arabia was as low as 2.8 percent.
The Sultanate’s non-oil imports in 2014 showed a 14.7 percent dip with import value diminishing to OMR11.26 billion from year ago figure of OMR13.20 billion. Imports from the UAE, though posting an annual fall of 6.5 percent, ranked the highest last year at OMR3.65 billion.
However, the Sultanate recorded a growth in imports from China and Japan at 34 percent and 7.7 percent respectively, while posting a 59.4 percent downturn in imports from India.
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