MUSCAT: There is a number at the centre of every conversation about Oman's public finances, and in 2025 it remained stubbornly consistent: 70 per cent.
That is the share of total state revenue that came from oil and gas last year. Hydrocarbon revenue reached RO 8.481 billion. Non-hydrocarbon revenue — from taxes, fees, investment returns and other sources — contributed the remaining 30 per cent, or RO 3.641 billion, according to the State's Final Account for Fiscal Year 2025 published by the Ministry of Finance earlier this week.
The non-oil figure beat its budget estimate of RO 3.573 billion, which is encouraging. But a 2-per cent overshoot is not a structural shift. It is a data point in a much longer trend line.
Within that RO 3.641 billion, the details are more interesting. Tax and fee revenue reached RO 2.107 billion — 4 per cent above budget. VAT generated RO 631 million, exceeding its RO 580 million target. Customs duties came in at RO 261 million against a budgeted RO 232 million. Corporate income tax reached RO 656 million, holding its place as the single largest non-oil item.
Non-tax revenue added RO 1.495 billion, with investment income the largest component at RO 805 million. The returns from Oman's state asset base — sovereign funds, public companies, real estate — are now a meaningful part of the fiscal picture.
The 2025 budget assumed an oil price of $60 per barrel. The actual average came in at $72. That $12 differential is what made Oman's fiscal year look solid. It also illustrates the exposure. A $12 move in the other direction would have told a very different story.
Fiscal diversification under Oman Vision 2040 is not simply about growing non-oil GDP — it is about growing non-oil revenue. The two are related but not the same. An economy can diversify its activity while the government remains dependent on hydrocarbons if tax structures, investment returns and fee revenues fail to keep pace.
Closing the 70-to-30 gap will require sustained private-sector growth, improved compliance rates, wider investment returns and — over time — decisions about whether existing tax rates and structures are calibrated correctly for a more diversified economy.
The 2025 final account shows Oman is moving in the right direction. It also shows how far there is still to go.
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