Muscat: The total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Sultanate at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO15,44mn, recording an increase of 13.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2019, when it was RO13,642mn. 

The foreign investment flow in Oman reached RO1,797.9 million, according to the data on the preliminary results of the performance of FDI issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The United Kingdom ranked first for its FDI in Oman at the end of the second quarter of 2020 with RO7,808.3mn, up from RO7,084.2mn in the same period of 2019; followed by the United States of America, with RO1,818.9mn, an increase from RO1,675.7mn in the same period of 2019; and then by the United Arab Emirates, with an amount of RO1,265.2mn, compared to RO1,166.1mn at the end of the second quarter of 2019.

The FDI of Kuwait in the Sultanate reached RO933.5mn, compared to RO826.9mn, and that of China reached RO848.5mn, up from RO75mn. The FDI from the Kingdom of Bahrain in Oman at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO436.1mn compared to RO391.2mn at the same period of 2019, and that from the state of Qatar reached RO404.8mn, up from RO345.4mn.

The investments of the Republic of India in Oman until the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO317.5mn, followed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands at RO337.4mn, up from RO298.7mn in the same period of 2019.

The FDI from the Republic of Switzerland reached RO280mn compared to RO229.3mn in 2019 while the investments of other countries in Oman till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO998.7mn, declining from RO1,226.7mn in the same period of 2019.

The NCSI data also show that the FDI in oil and gas extraction activities in Oman acquired RO9.89bn, up from RO9bn in the same period of 2019 while the FDI in the manufacturing sector at the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO1.55bn, a fall from RO1.64bn in 2019.

The data point out that FDI in the financial intermediation sector in the Sultanate till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO1.42bn, which is the same figure as that of the same period of 2019 while the foreign investment in the real estate sector activities in the Sultanate till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO1.14bn, increasing from RO719.5mn in 2019.

The foreign investment in other activities in Oman till the end of the second quarter of 2020 reached RO1.42bn, increasing from RO904.7mn in the same period of 2019.