DUBAI: Oman’s minister of finance forecast on Saturday GDP (gross domestic product) in real terms for 2010 at 6.1 percent, and inflation at 3.5 percent, without giving comparative figures for the previous year.
Ahmad Mekki, who is also the minister of national economy, told reporters that Oman’s total debt as of the end of 2009 stood at 722 million Omani rials ($1.88 billion), with domestic debt accounting for 252 million rials of the total figure.
“In 2010, we see a 6.1 percent GDP growth in real term due to expected higher revenues as a result of a bigger oil production,” Mekki said. He reiterated previous comments that there were no plans to ditch Oman’s currency peg to the dollar or to join the Gulf Cooperation Council monetary union at any point in the future.
On Dec. 13, Mekki said he expected the country’s economy to grow by a sluggish 1-2 percent in 2009 after it was hit by lower oil prices in the second quarter.
Mekki’s remarks did not clarify whether he was referring to a change in nominal or real gross domestic product.
The global economic crisis slashed income for Gulf Arab oil producing nations, sending the region’s key economies into downturn last year. Non-OPEC Oman was less affected than fellow oil exporters in the region because it did not have to join oil output cuts required by the group.
Mekki said on Saturday that 2009 figures were yet to be finalized. A senior ministry official said in October that the sultanate’s economy will grow by 2.5 percent in 2009 in nominal terms due to better performance from its nonoil sectors.
The International Monetary Fund sees GDP growth of 4.1 percent this year, well below 7.8 percent in 2008.
Oman, which exited plans for a Gulf Arab monetary union more than three years ago, will not budge on its decision, Mekki said on Saturday.