Oman and Arab business: Why long-term capital is moving early

For much of the past decade, investor attention in the Gulf focused on scale-driven markets where visibility, speed and liquidity defined opportunity. While this approach helped establish mature hubs such as Dubai, it also resulted in pricing that increasingly reflected future expectations rather than underlying fundamentals.
As regional markets mature, long-term capital is shifting toward earlier-cycle environments where governance stability, infrastructure build-out, and regulatory clarity remain underappreciated. Within the Gulf, this reassessment is drawing growing attention to Oman.
On core structural indicators, including political stability, geographic positioning and diversification away from hydrocarbons — Oman already outperforms several GCC peers.
Under Oman Vision 2040, the country has positioned digital infrastructure and ICT as priority growth engines supported by concrete capital allocation rather than headline-driven promotion. National AI initiatives target approximately $400 million in cumulative investment by 2030, while the Government Digital Transformation Programme, launched in 2022, commits around $442 million to cloud adoption, digital public services and integrated government platforms.
One investor acting on this early-cycle positioning is the writer and an active technology investor, who has selected Oman as a long-term strategic market.
“Oman is the most underestimated market in the GCC and that’s exactly why the upside is so high”.
Oman’s appeal does not stem from momentum trading or speculative growth narratives. It reflects deliberate structural repositioning supported by policy execution.
Fiscal discipline has improved, sovereign risk has declined and regulatory reforms have accelerated under Oman Vision 2040, which prioritises logistics, energy transition and technology-enabled services. The ICT sector is treated as a long-term economic pillar rather than a pilot initiative, signaling a focus on scalable systems.
Dubai continues to reward velocity, global exposure and rapid scaling, attracting capital designed to move quickly and exit efficiently. That success, however, also reflects maturity, where future expectations are already embedded in valuations. Oman operates under a different logic, with entry pricing grounded in current fundamentals, manageable competitive pressure and regulatory alignment that favours long-term operators over speculative plays.
From an infrastructure perspective, Oman treats digital systems as national infrastructure. Broadband expansion, data-centre development and AI programmes are coordinated within a unified framework rather than pursued as isolated initiatives. Dense submarine cable routes and geographic positioning support low-latency connectivity between Asia, Africa and Europe, enabling enterprise AI inference, fintech platforms and compliance-heavy digital services. While industrial power costs limit hyperscale AI training economics, they do not constrain enterprise deployments or regulated use cases.
Oman also offers a stable regulatory environment with predictable policy enforcement, moderate corporate taxation at 15% and additional incentives through free zones and special economic zones, including tax holidays and exemptions.
Authorities emphasise capital protection and legal clarity over rapid liberalisation, reinforcing investor confidence. A growing pipeline of science and engineering graduates supports cost-efficient operational teams, even as advanced research clusters continue to develop.
Oman’s investment case rests on disciplined capital allocation, regulatory predictability and early-stage infrastructure aligned with long-term economic objectives. Under Oman Vision 2040, digital infrastructure, logistics, energy transition and ICT have moved from policy ambition to funded execution.
For investors focused on early-stage infrastructure strategies, Oman stands out as one of the few Gulf markets where political stability, geographic positioning and capital discipline converge before valuation repricing. The strategic question is no longer whether Oman will attract attention, but whether investors position themselves before infrastructure maturity translates into higher entry costs.