Muscat: The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy have issued Financial Circular No. (1/2023) on rules for preparing 2024 budget estimates.

The step comes in line with the implementation of national strategies and programmes of the five-year development plans for achieving comprehensive development as per the goals of Oman Vision 2040.

The financial circular requires all ministries and government departments to prepare estimates for their respective budgets (current budgets and development budgets).

The government departments are expected to submit their proposed annual plan drafts that include the following: general goals and indices for accomplishing them, programmes and initiatives that achieve those goals, the proposed budgets set for them and the time plan for their implementation and criteria on which the 2024 budget estimates are designated, compared to the 2023 budget.

The departments are also required to present their medium-term plans in line with the respective revenue and expenditure schedules.

The circular stresses that all government sectors must submit the estimated budgets (current and development) for the fiscal year 2024 electronically, and enter the required budget estimates (revenues and expenditures) for the existing budgets, the additional budget and the budget set for operating new projects. The budget estimates are required to be sent by end of July 2023.

The circular indicates that it is necessary to submit a list of disbursement (liquidity) estimates expected during the year 2024 and the expected disbursement for the remainder of the year 2023. These are required for each development project within the context of the ongoing implementation stages and based on the entity’s records.

The expected date for completing project implementation have to be specified.

This is in addition to submitting a list of the progress made in strategic programmes cited within the “Strategic Programmes Folder” of the 10th Five-Year Plan until the date of the report. Also, the percentages of achievement of each programme have to be specified. The required statements are required to be dispatched via the 2024 Development Budget System.