Oman's 2019 budget, announced yesterday, envisages total public spending of about RO12.9 billion ($33.48 billion), an increase of RO400 million or 3 per cent compared with the budgeted figures of 2018.

Oman’s His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued a decree authorising the ratification of the state budget for the fiscal year 2019.

The estimated total revenues of RO10.1 billion, an increase of 6% as compared to the estimated revenue for 2018, is calculated on a base oil price of $58 per barrel,  reported Times of Oman.

It is estimated that the deficit of the budget of 2019 is about RO2.8 billion, or 9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where 86 per cent of the budget deficit will be financed through external and domestic borrowing, while the rest of the deficit will be financed through the withdrawal of reserves, the report added.

According to the preliminary reports, overall public spending totalled RO13.2 billion in 2018 compared with a budgeted figure of RO12.5 billion, a 6 per cent increase. This is mainly attributed to the rise in investment spending over development projects, increased expenditures of some government units to meet necessary and urgent needs, high subsidy costs of the electricity sector and higher costs of public debt servicing, said an Oman News Agency report.