Investing in the Sultanate of Oman plays an important role at all economic levels, enjoying many investment advantages that have enabled it to attract domestic and foreign investments, including security and stability, allowing foreigners to own projects and the absence of restrictions on transferring money and profits abroad.
The National Statistical Centre of the Sultanate of Oman issued the publication “Foreign Investment Statistics in the Sultanate of Oman”. Current prices in 2021 amounted to about OMR33,909 million and 800,000 Omani rials, up by 16.2% compared to 2020.
The bulletin indicated that the percentage of foreign investment flows of GDP amounted to 12.6 per cent in 2021 compared to 0.7 per cent in 2020. The total foreign investment in the Sultanate of Oman hit OMR25,045.2 million in 2021, up by 20.5 per cent compared to 2020. Foreign direct investment (FDI) constituted the largest share of total foreign investments at 70.9 per cent, and other foreign investments accounted for 23.9 per cent, while foreign portfolio investments accounted for 5.2 %.
The relative importance of the referral industry sector and the financial brokerage sector was 9.6% and 9.3%, respectively. It also noted that the value of FDI in 2021 was 17 billion and 800 million Omani rials, up 24.5% from 2020, leading the oil and gas sector by 68.6%.
The bulletin said that 45.3 per cent of FDI in the Sultanate of Oman went to the United Kingdom (UK), followed by the United States of America (USA) at 15.5 %.
The opening of the “Invest in Oman” Lounge to promote the investment environment
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion launched an investment lounge in Oman as part of efforts to develop the Sultanate of Oman’s business environment and attract and settle foreign investments.
The Lounge, which was inaugurated in the Civil Aviation Authority under the auspices of the Minister of Finance, Sultan bin Salem Al-Habsi, is a unified window of services to provide all services to investors and offer investment opportunities that exceed the size of OMR 1 million, in cooperation with relevant government and private entities according to international best practices.
What’s the point of opening the “Invest in Oman” lounge?
The Lounge aims to promote the investment environment in the Sultanate of Oman, through which all the procedures and requirements for the establishment, operation and completion of the investment project in the Sultanate of Oman are accomplished. The Lounge offers integrated and thoughtful investment opportunities and offers investment opportunities in all sectors related to incentives and facilities provided to investors.
It contributes to enhancing the principle of complementarity of roles with partners and seeking to provide investment facilitation services efficiently and effectively. The Lounge will showcase investment opportunities and explain the pathways to localize opportunities, familiarize the investor with the investment environment in the Sultanate of Oman and the facilities and services provided, clarify and explain the investment journey across all target sectors, as well as determine the expected timelines for the completion of the projects’ settlement.
In addition, it ensures that the investor’s journey is in accordance with the Directory of Unified Government Services and the Service Level Agreement with government agencies, addressing the challenges and obstacles faced by investors and proposing appropriate solutions to them.
