Oman budget surplus hits $609m
Muscat, October 3, 2013
Oman's year-to-date government budget surplus widened to 234.5 million rials ($609 million) at the end of August from 178.5 million rials in the first seven months of 2013, official data showed on Thursday.
However, the January-August outcome is sharply down from a surplus of 2.6 billion rials in the same period of 2012, data
from the National Center for Statistics and Information showed.
Analysts polled by Reuters in September forecast the non-Opec oil exporter would post a fiscal surplus of 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 and 3.0 percent in 2014.
Oman based its 2013 budget on a projected oil price of $85 per barrel, expected expenditure of 12.9 billion rials and a deficit of 1.7 billion rials. - Reuters
