GDP grows 12 per cent in 2018

Muscat: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to expand at a robust pace and grew by 12 per cent during 2018 as against 7.3 per cent in the previous year, according to the bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO). The petroleum and nonpetroleum sectors grew in nominal terms by 37.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent during this period. The contribution of hydrocarbon sector to nominal GDP jumped to 35.5 per cent in 2018 from 29.0 per cent during 2017 mainly due to surge in oil prices. On the other hand, the share of nonhydrocarbon sector declined to 68.4 per cent from 74.4 per cent during this period. The government and other stakeholders are consistently making efforts to promote diversification away from the hydrocarbon sector to reduce dependence on oil sector and ensure sustainable development over medium to long run. Inflationary conditions remained benign and the average retail inflation stood at 0.3 per cent during Jan-March 2019 as compared to 0.6 per cent during the same period of last year. — ONA