Business | Economy
Non-oil sector boosts Oman economy
Oman's gross domestic product (GDP) saw a steady 8.3 per cent year-on-year increase at current prices during the July to September 2007 quarter, matching the growth in the first half of the year, the Ministry of National Economy said in its economic review for the third quarter.
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:21 February 4, 2008
Muscat: Oman's gross domestic product (GDP) saw a steady 8.3 per cent year-on-year increase at current prices during the July to September 2007 quarter, matching the growth in the first half of the year, the Ministry of National Economy said in its economic review for the third quarter.
According to the Ministry's Directorate General of Statistics, the non-oil sectors were the engines of growth in the third quarter with year-on-year growth of 18.1 per cent, continuing a trend of consistently strong non-oil sector growth for the last nine quarters since the third quarter of 2005 when growth exceeded 12 per cent year-on-year.
This contrasts with the negative growth of 2 per cent in the oil sector's value added in the same quarter. When added to the first six months of 2007, the cumulative oil sector growth for January to September stood at -0.2 per cent. This was despite the price of Oman crude rising to a new high of $68.50 per barrel in the third quarter of 2007 and is mainly due to lower crude production in 2007.
Domestic demand, according to the report, continued to act as a strong driver of growth in the second and third quarters of 2007.
Net imports in the second quarter of 2007 maintained the strong growth of the first quarter, exceeding the rate of growth of net imports throughout 2005 and 2006.
The total number of new private sector jobs created in the first nine months of 2007 (103,959) exceeded the total created in 2006. This high private sector workforce growth has strengthened the demand side of the economy, creating buoyant demand for both local and imported goods, the report said.
While the strong growing demand side has been a driver of economic growth it continued to be a driver of accelerating increases on prices, along with other factors.
Increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 6.5 per cent in the third quarter were the highest year-on-year increases recorded in any quarter and represent a rapid acceleration of the rate of increase compared to 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2007 and 4.8 per cent in April to June.
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