The 2009 World Economic Outlook Report of the IMF, issued in October 2009, indicated that the global economy is forecasted to record a contraction of 1.1 per cent in 2009, and to return once again to record positive growth rates of about 3.1 per cent in 2010. The growth is pulled by the strong performance of Asian economies, particularly China, and stabilization or modest recovery elsewhere, In view of the pace of recovery of the global economy and the reduced production policy adopted by Opec, the oil prices in the global markets are foreseen to rise to $76..5 per barrel in 2010 compared to $61.5 in 2009.

Oman economy has shown ability to counter and confront the repercussions of the large decline in oil prices. Following the global financial crisis, Oman oil prices dropped from $101.1 per barrel in 2008 to $56.7 in 2009, a decrease of 44 per cent. Despite this, the national economy registered a positive growth of 3.7 per cent at constant prices in 2009 and contraction rate not exceeding 20 per cent at current prices.

The ability of the national economy to counter this external shock stems from a number of factors mainly the increase in oil production rates, the economic policies aimed at further economic diversification, continued investment and sound fiscal policies adopted by the government to support domestic demand, monetary policies and other measures undertaken for liquidity availability and support of the banking and financial sector stability in general.

For more information related to recent developments in Oman please refer to Development in Oman 2009