(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) With the robust expansion of Oman's non-oil economic activities, trade with its large neighbouring economies, such as UAE and Saudi Arabia, is witnessing a fast-paced growth, and these regional countries are expected to continue playing a major role as the sultanate's non-oil trading partners.
While Oman's total non-oil exports recorded a 8.5 per cent year-on-year rise to RO2.33bn in the first eight months of 2013, non-oil exports to UAE grew by 24.4 per cent to RO428mn, making the emirates Oman's biggest non-oil trading partner.
Saudi Arabia emerged as Oman's second biggest non-oil trading partner, with non-oil exports to the kingdom jumping 93 per cent to RO306mn, data released by the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on Monday showed. Oman's total re-exports increased 45 per cent to RO2.39bn in the first eight months of 2013, of which re-exports to UAE stood at RO838mn, accounting for 35 per cent of the total.
Reexports to Saudi Arabia surged by 132 per cent to RO249mn. ''The trends in non-oil trade reflect Oman's increasing integration with neighbouring economies, such as UAE, which has rebounded strongly. There are positive repercussions on Oman from strong growth in neighbouring countries,'' said Dr Fabio Scacciavillani, chief economist with the Oman Investment Fund.
Dr Scacciavillani said that the robust growth in non-oil exports and re-exports also reflects the internationalisation of Omani firms, which are looking to tap foreign markets for their output.
''It is a healthy development for a small economy like Oman that local companies are expanding their markets abroad as it is needed due to the saturation in domestic markets,'' he said.
The export of mineral products, which is the largest component of non-oil exports, jumped 51 per cent to RO670mn in the first eight months of 2013 from RO444mn in the previous year.
The re-export of mineral products also more than doubled to RO965mn from RO473mn. ''The fast-paced growth in reexports indicates that Oman's free zones have started gaining momentum as they are wellconnected to neighbouring markets.
More growth in re-exports will come from growing activities at the free zones in Salalah, Sohar and Duqm, coupled with strong growth in neighbouring economies.
As the economy continues to grow and non-oil activities rise, we will see a continuation of this positive trend in exports and re-exports in 2014 and beyond,'' Dr Scacciavillani added. Recently, while announcing the 2014 budget, H E Darwish al Balushi, Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs, said that non-oil economic activity is estimated to grow by 5.6 per cent in 2013 and by 7.3 per cent in 2014.
On the other hand, Oman's total merchandise imports recorded a 22.8 per cent growth in the first eight months of 2013 to RO8.63bn from RO7bn in the same period of the previous year.
Oman's imports from UAE rose 39 per cent to RO2.39bn, while imports from Saudi Arabia surged 80.6 per cent to RO542mn.
''Inter-regional trade is picking up as economies get more integrated,'' added Dr Scacciavilla
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.