#Oman’s New Sultan Embarks on Long Road to Economic Recovery - Bloomberg

Oman’s New Sultan Embarks on Long Road to Economic Recovery - Bloomberg:

Oman’s new ruler is embarking on possibly unpopular steps to improve the Gulf nation’s finances, in a test of his authority just weeks after succeeding a cousin who had ruled for five decades.

The largest Arab crude producer outside OPEC plans to lower its debt and review state companies, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said said on Sunday in his first televised address. Oman has posted deficits since oil prices slumped in 2014, with this year’s shortfall projected at 8.4% of gross domestic product and the International Monetary Fund forecasting no surpluses until at least 2024.

Resources will be redirected to raise revenue, the sultan said, and there will be a “complete revision” of activities and employment at government companies to improve their performance.

“These are the types of rationalizations that have been planned for some time, and are necessary,” said Richard Segal, senior analyst at Manulife Investment in London. The first priority would be to “slow the growth in debt,” he said.