Oman will set a growth target of at least three per cent in its upcoming five-year development plan starting in 2011 after largely surpassing that rate in the current plan, the Gulf country’s Minister of National Economy has said.

Ahmed bin Abdul Nabi Mecki said real GDP growth in Oman’s seventh development plan for 2006-2010 sharply exceeded the targeted rate of three per cent despite the adverse effects of the 2008 global fiscal distress.

His figures showed real GDP growth stood at 5.5 per cent in 2006, around 6.8 per cent in 2007, as high as 12.8 per cent in 2008 and nearly 7.3 per cent in 2009. He forecast growth at around 6.1 per cent in 2010.

“The next development plan will concentrate on attaining a growth rate of at least three per cent, boosting exports, encouraging investment and devising a strategy to expand productivity,” he told Oman’s Alwatan daily this week.

“The plan will also focus on controlling inflation through all its years by developing methods of control on local markets, educating consumers and encouraging importers to diversify the sources of their imports.”

Mecki said priority would also be given to creating jobs for Omanis, developing agriculture and other non-oil sectors and intensifying efforts to develop small and medium enterprises by encouraging the private sector to invest in such projects.

Mecki said Oman managed to reduce its public debt and increase financial reserves during the 2006-2010 development plan because of a sharp rise in its oil and gas revenue. Foreign investment also recorded growth while several development projects in the previous plan were completed, he added.

Mecki’s growth figures for 2006-2008 were almost compatible with estimates by the International Monetary Fund but were sharply higher than the IMF’s 3.6-per cent growth estimate in 2009. His forecasts for 2010 are also higher than the IMF’s projection of around 4.7 per cent.

In current prices, Oman’s GDP jumped by nearly 33.9 per cent in the first half of 2010 mainly because of higher production and prices.

The oil sector alone jumped by around 77.1 per cent in the first half of 2010 compared with the first half of 2009 while the non-hydrocarbons sector swelled by nearly 9.7 per cent in the same period, the Ministry of National Economy said.

Oman’s oil production soared to a nine-year high last month to around 875,000 barrels per day while crude prices in the first half of 2010 were more than 30 per cent higher than their average in the first half of 2009.

Higher prices and output allowed the country to maintain its fiscal expansion plan it adopted after the global crisis with the aim of preventing its economy from sliding. The surge in prices and output boosted Oman’s revenue to nearly RO5,763.7 million in the first nine months of 2010 from around RO4,827.6 million in the first nine months of 2009. Oil export earnings jumped to about RO3.926 billion from RO3.07 billion in the same period.

“We are planning to carry out more projects in the eighth development plan covering all sectors, mainly infrastructure, industry and tourism,” Mecki said.

His figures showed Oman’s GNP per capita climbed to a record high of RO7,790 in 2008 while successive five-year plans largely boosted job opportunities for Omanis, who increased from below 100,000 in 1996 to over 275,000 in 2008.

“We will pursue plans to ensure stability in the country’s economic environment, bolster financial reserves by transferring part of the oil revenue to the state reserve fund, step up spending on development and trim the debt.”