The ranking is progress. But do Omanis feel it?

A global ranking is announced in Geneva. Its real meaning is tested in Muscat, Salalah, Suhar, Nizwa, Al Duqm — anywhere a citizen waits for a service, a graduate looks for work, or a small business tries to survive its first difficult year.
That is the right way to read Oman's rise to 25th place in the 2026 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, out of 70 economies, up three places from 28th in 2025.
The result deserves recognition. It is not a minor move. It signals that Oman's reform effort is becoming more visible abroad, at a moment when investors are growing cautious, supply chains are shifting, and small open economies must prove stability and credibility to stay in the game.
But a ranking is not a trophy. It is a test — and the test is not whether the index moved, but whether the country behind it can turn credibility into outcomes people can feel.
The progress did not appear overnight. It is the result of a six-year correction that began at one of the hardest moments in Oman's recent economic history. In 2020, the Sultanate of Oman was hit by Covid-19, falling oil prices, and a public debt load that had climbed to roughly 68 per cent of GDP. The government had to cut spending, restructure debt, and prove that Vision 2040 was a discipline, not just a slogan.
The numbers since then tell the story. Public debt has fallen to around 34 to 36 per cent of GDP by the end of 2025 — roughly half what it was in 2020. All three major credit agencies have confirmed the turnaround: Moody's upgraded Oman to investment grade in mid-2025, Fitch followed in December, and S&P held its investment-grade rating steady through the year. Non-oil growth reached 3.5 per cent in the first half of 2025, led by construction, agriculture and fishing, tourism, and logistics. Inflation has stayed low, near 1 per cent.
These numbers matter because investors do not start with emotion. They start with risk. They ask whether a state can manage its finances and keep its word. On that question, Oman has a stronger answer today than it did six years ago. That is why the IMD ranking matters.
But the citizen does not live inside an index. The graduate does not measure hope by a global score. The small business owner does not survive on improved perception. The investor tests Oman not through rankings but through licences, land allocation, customs, courts, and how long it takes to get something done.
The public reaction to rankings like this should not be brushed aside as negativity. It is a signal. People are not rejecting the progress — they are asking whether it has reached them. That is the gap Oman now has to close.
Competitiveness is not the same as wealth. It is the ability to turn stability into productivity, productivity into real jobs, and real jobs into public confidence. It is not enough for government to become more efficient at the top. That efficiency has to be felt at the counter, on the road, in the port, in the hospital, and in the industrial estate.
Reducing debt was essential. Earning back investment-grade status was essential. The harder task now is turning that macroeconomic credibility into something broader: real economic value that reaches ordinary Omanis.
Foreign investment is the clearest example of work still unfinished. Total FDI keeps growing, but oil and gas extraction alone accounts for roughly 81 per cent of it. Manufacturing has attracted only about RO 2.7 billion, and financial services around RO 1.3 billion — both a fraction of the hydrocarbon total. Until that balance shifts, Oman's diversification story remains incomplete. The country needs more capital flowing into manufacturing, logistics, tourism, fisheries, and export-oriented services — investment that builds supply chains and creates real jobs for Omanis, not just headline figures.
This is where the labour market becomes the real test, and where the FDI imbalance turns from a statistic into a human problem. Oil and gas is capital-intensive; it does not employ many Omanis per rial invested. Manufacturing, tourism, and logistics do. As long as investment stays concentrated where job creation is weakest, Omanisation by regulation can open positions, but it cannot build careers. What is needed is capital that follows the sectors where Omanis can actually grow: firms that raise productivity, wages that hold up, training that matches what employers need.
The ranking should now become a management tool, not a public relations line. Every strong indicator deserves a question: what produced it, and can it be deepened? Every weak indicator should be assigned to an institution, with a deadline and someone accountable. Competitiveness cannot sit with one office. It has to become a daily habit across government.
The governorates are central to this. Vision 2040 will not be judged only by what happens in Muscat. A truly competitive Oman is one where investors move with confidence in Dhofar, Al Wusta, North Al Batinah, Al Dakhiliyah, Musandam, and Al Sharqiyah alike — where land, permits, logistics, and municipal services all carry the same seriousness.
Oman has earned the right to say it is moving in the right direction. But it should resist stopping at celebration. The sharper message is this: the country has improved, so expectations should rise with it.
Real success will not be entering the top 20 of a global ranking. It will be when the improvement is visible without needing to mention the ranking at all — when a business opens faster, a project finishes on time, a graduate finds real work, and a citizen feels that public services are becoming faster, clearer, and more predictable.
The IMD result is progress. The responsibility now is to make that progress felt.