Muscat: The Fiscal bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance shows that government revenues dropped by 27.68% from January to the end of April 2021 to stand at RO 2.7 billion (RO 2.769 billion) as against the corresponding period in 2020.

The statement indicated that net oil revenues stood at RO 1.34 billion, down by 36.82% due to the decline in oil prices and production average, coupled with Covid-19 impacts which slowed the Sultanate’s economic and financial growth. The bulletin noted that the Sultanate is committed to the Opec-Plus production cut agreement.

Meanwhile, current revenues saw a rise of 14.43%, of which RO 313 million came from the distribution of government investment dividends.

The bulletin stressed that the state’s public spending continues to decline in light of policies and procedures aimed to rationalize spending and raise its efficiency.

As a result, general expenditure by the end of April 2021 stood at RO 3.59 billion (RO 3.596.9 billion), down by 2.65%, compared to the corresponding period in 2020 (RO 3 billion and 694.9 million), while Investment expenditure (developmental, capital) of civil ministries stood about RO143 million.

The bulletin also showed that the Sultanate introduced a new item, a provision termed “Debt Settlement Allocation”, in drafting the State Budget 2021, with the purpose of paying part of future loan outstanding. By the end of April 2021, a sum of RO 50 million was transferred to the Debt Settlement Allocation Provision, from a target sum of RO 150 million. The budget deficit by April 2021 reached RO 827.4 million, while the local and foreign paid loans stood at RO 668.1 million.

The bulletin also highlighted the establishment of Energy Development Oman (EDO), kickstarting its operations, and transferring the expenditure obligations to the company in the second half of 2021, the government still continues to pay the expenses of oil and gas sectors which stood at RO 554.5 million by April 2021.

The reserves of crude oil and condensates by the end of 2020 stood at RO 4.7 billion barrels, while the average production rate reached 950.7 thousand barrels daily. In addition, the Sultanate’s gas reserves by the end of 2020 reached 23.69 trillion cubic feet, while the average production rate was 121.9 million cubic feet daily.