Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council reviews economy

Muscat: The Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council (FAERC) yesterday held its first meeting for 2019 under the chair of Darwish bin Ismail Al Balushi, Minister Responsible of Finance, FAERC Deputy Chairman.
The Council reviewed a report on the position of the external and local public debt until the end of December 2018, and a report on the credit rating of the Sultanate according to the assessment prepared by some international rating agencies.
The Council stressed the importance of studying the observations and recommendations of these agencies’ reports and taking all necessary measures to improve the credit rating of the Sultanate.
The Council also reviewed some financial and economic indicators of the Sultanate achieved during 2018 compared to 2017, including the increase in public revenues by 29 per cent, the decrease of the estimated deficit in 2018 by 28 per cent and the growth of GDP by 12 percent in current prices (according to preliminary data), mainly supported by the growth of non-oil sectors and the improvement of the Sultanate’s competitive indicators.
The Council also reviewed a report on the activity of the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) for the third quarter of 2018, the implementation of the Council’s decisions taken in previous meetings, as well as other topics upon which appropriate decisions were taken.