Oman celebrates 54th National Day today

The Sultanate of Oman is celebrating the 54th glorious National Day today (18th November), marking milestone accomplishments in different areas.

The citizens of Oman and various state institutions have rendered an indispensable contribution to the continuous achievements in the path of the comprehensive development during the renewed renaissance of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, who has outlined a wise and sound vision that leads to progress and prosperity in all fields.

His Majesty’s directives to all state institutions to continue improving the missions entrusted to them and to develop appropriate conditions to upgrade performance at all levels have contributed positively over the past five years to achieving success in various targets of Oman Vision 2040.

The government of His Majesty the Sultan has managed to improve the state’s economic and financial performance and reduce debt and increase the gross domestic product; as the state’s public revenue at the end of August 2024 amounted to RO 8.106 billion, up by RO 183 million compared to RO 7.923 billion registered over the same period in 2023.

The state’s general budget until August 2024 achieved a surplus of about RO 447 million, while the public debt portfolio declined by the end of June 2024 to RO 14.4 billion, compared to RO 20.8 billion in 2021.

The Sultanate of Oman also launched this year (2024) the social protection system by unifying and merging pension funds, and restructuring the schemes.

Oman succeeded in reducing the ratio of public debt to GDP from 62.3 percent in 2021 to 35 percent in mid-2024 and achieving a budget surplus for consecutive years, recording 2.7 percent and 2.2 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

This has led to a remarkable improvement in the credit rating of the Sultanate of Oman by credit rating agencies, as Standard & Poor’s raised its second credit rating for the Sultanate of Oman to “BBB-” from “BB+” with a stable outlook. Further, Moody’s revised its outlook for the Sultanate of Oman from a stable to a positive, confirming the credit rating at “Ba1”.

These ratings affirm that the Sultanate of Oman is a safe investment environment, as it returned to this rating category after a decline of nearly 7 years (since 2017) due to the repercussions of the crises resulting from the slum in global oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic.

 Moreover, the Sultanate of Oman has also advanced in many international indicators, as it rose 39 ranks in the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom issued by the Heritage Foundation to obtain the 56th place globally after being ranked 95th globally in 2023. In the Entrepreneurship Index, it came in the 11th place globally, advancing 27 places from its ranking in 2022/2023. It also came in the 50th place globally in the Environmental Performance Index after being ranked 149th in the 2022 ranking.

 In the education sector, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) achieved a remarkable progress in the 2025 World University Rankings to obtain the 362nd place, advancing 92 places from its previous classification.

 Meanwhile, the volume of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the Sultanate of Oman until the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 amounted to RO 25.05 billion, an increase of 21.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022, which amounted to RO 20.59 billion.

The refinery is the largest joint investment project between the Sultanate of Oman and the State of Kuwait, integrated between the Omani OQ Group and Kuwait Petroleum International Company, with a capital exceeding RO 3.5 billion.

Oman Vision 2040 has placed the private sector in a position to lead a competitive national economy linked to the global economy.

In the tourism sector, the Sultanate of Oman has achieved remarkable results in recent years, as the number of tourists increased by 36.7 percent to nearly 4 million tourists in 2023 compared to 2022.

In its speech before the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Sultanate of Oman affirmed that its leadership, government and people believe in using legitimate and peaceful means to resolve issues and conflicts. From this standpoint, it called for an immediate cessation of fighting and ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and the Red Sea region, and addressing the causes of the conflict by ending the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, achieving justice for the Palestinian people on the basis of the two-state solution and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.

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