(MENAFN) The World Bank said in a recent report that it expects that Oman's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 5 percent this year, above the average growth of 3.3 percent that it forecasted for the GCC countries, Muscat Daily reported.
However, the World Bank said that it forecasts that the sultanate's GDP growth will weaken to 3.9 percent in 2016 and 4 percent in 2017, after it has registered an estimated growth of 4.4 percent in 2014, declining from 5.1 percent it recorded in 2013.
According to the World Bank Group's Global Economic Prospects 2015 report, Oman's current account balance dropped sharply to 3 percent of GDP in 2014 from 9.2 percent in 2013, adding that expects that it will fall into negative territory at -4.9 percent next year.
"In this uncertain economic environment, developing countries need to judiciously deploy their resources to support social programs with a laser-like focus on the poor and undertake structural reforms that invest in people. It's also critical for countries to remove any unnecessary roadblocks for private sector investment. The private sector is by far the greatest source of jobs and that can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty," said World Bank president in a press release.
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