Oman’s freshly-released 2014 budget envisages a modest increase of 5.0% in total expenditure to OR13.5bn ($35.1bn), compared to a 29% increase in 2013 over 2012. Oman officially projects inflation at 1.4% for 2014 – level with 2013 – implying a real-terms 3.6% spending increase (almost in line with IMF predictions of 3.4% real GDP growth for 2014).
Total revenue is projected to increase by 4.9% to OR11.7bn ($30.4bn), with a resulting deficit of OR1.8bn ($4.7bn), 5.6% more than 2013. (CONTINUED - 867 WORDS)
