“S&P” raises Oman’s credit rating to “BB+”

Standard & Poor’s raised its credit rating for the Sultanate of Oman to “BB+” with a stable outlook. As a result of the improved resilience of the Omani economy in the face of external financial shocks thanks to the measures taken by the government to improve financial and economic indicators, reduce the state’s public debt, and continue to improve the prospects for the oil sector. The agency said that it expects to achieve economic growth at an average rate of about 2% during the period 2023-2026, despite the slowdown in real GDP growth during the current year as a result of the voluntary reduction in oil production after the “OPEC +” agreement. The agency also expects the non-oil sector in the Sultanate to grow by about 2% during the period 2024-2025, according to what was reported by the Oman News Agency. The agency indicated achieving a financial surplus of about 1.8% of GDP during the year 2022 after about 8 years of recording financial deficits, expecting to continue achieving a financial surplus averaging 1.5% during the years 2023-2024. The agency stated that high oil prices will contribute to achieving additional revenues. It will enable the government to continue its efforts to exploit these revenues towards reducing public debt, expecting the rate of public debt as a percentage of GDP to decline from about 40% in 2022 to 38% in 2023. The agency expected that the average price of Brent crude oil would reach about $83 per barrel in The year 2023, and $85 per barrel during the year 2024 and subsequent years. The agency confirmed that the credit rating of the Sultanate of Oman may rise if the government continues to reduce the state’s external debt, which will lead to a decline in the cost of servicing public debt.