Mr Ahmed bin Abdulnabi economy minister of Oman announced that 44% GDP growth rate increase in Oman in 2008 was led by development of the country’s non-oil sectors.

The minister said while speaking at a meeting with the Brunei Darussalam Economy Development Council that GDP for Oman’s non-oil sectors rose by 32.6% from USD 16.7 billion in 2007 to USD 22.2 billion in 2008.

He said that another factor could be the government’s recent bid to attract foreign investment in economic diversification projects, by increasing the foreign participation ratio on JV from 49% to 70%.

Despite a decline in oil revenues, due to a global slump in oil prices, Macki said that the economic crisis had also had a positive impact on Oman by curtailing the inflation rate, which dropped from 13.7% in June 2008 to 3.9% in May 2009.

(Sourced from Arabian Business)