“The increase reflects the improvement in Oman’s debt burden and debt sustainability indicators in 2022, mainly due to large windfall gains from oil and gas revenues, which increase the country’s resilience. to potential future shocks,” Moody’s said.
The agency maintained a positive outlook for the country.
Earlier in April, Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on the Sultanate of Oman from stable to positive and affirmed its rating at (BB).
The global rating agency said the positive outlook for the Sultanate reflects falling public debt relative to gross domestic product, with rising oil prices, the imposition of spending restrictions and reduced risks of external liquidity.
For its part, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook for the Sultanate of Oman to positive, from stable, in early April, saying that the government was carrying out reforms in its budget and reducing the total debt ratio. to 40% of GDP in 2022 against around 60% in 2021. .
The agency expects the Sultanate of Oman’s gross domestic product to grow by around 2.5% per year, on average, between 2023 and 2026.
The Sultanate of Oman repaid 1.1 billion Omani riyals ($2.86 billion) in loans in the first quarter of this year, reducing the volume of public debt at the end of March to 16.6 billion riyals ($43. $1 billion).
Oman’s finance ministry said the country is in a position to repay these debts, depending on how government revenue increases after oil prices rise.
Oman has launched a medium-term financial plan in 2020 to reduce public debt, diversify revenue sources and boost economic growth.
And it recorded a financial surplus in 2022, amounting to 1,146 riyals, after rising oil prices boosted revenues.
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