In the Gulf’s theatre of grand announcements — the $500 billion megacities, the sovereign wealth fund deals, the Formula 1 races — Oman can seem almost invisible. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, who came to power in January 2020, does not do spectacular. He does competent. And in a region that has occasionally suffered from an excess of spectacle, that may be precisely what Oman needs.
The numbers are beginning to reflect a quiet transformation. Oman’s fiscal deficit, which stood at nearly 15% of GDP in 2020, has been reduced to under 2% — achieved through a combination of spending restraint, improved oil revenues and a series of structural reforms that attracted little attention outside Muscat. The privatisation of Oman Telecommunications has proceeded smoothly. A new foreign investment law has simplified entry requirements for international capital.
The social dimension of Haitham’s reign is equally noteworthy. While less dramatic than the social liberalisation underway in Saudi Arabia, Oman has been quietly expanding its entertainment sector, streamlining its visa regime for tourists, and investing in education reforms aimed at preparing Omani youth for a post-oil economy. The country’s universities are producing graduates in technology and engineering at a rate that is beginning to supply the private sector with the talent it needs.
Oman’s strategic positioning — as a neutral actor maintaining functional relationships with both Iran and Saudi Arabia, with both the US and China — has become an increasingly valuable diplomatic asset. Where Kuwait and Qatar have leveraged their neutrality for specific diplomatic purposes, Oman has converted its into a broader reputation for trustworthiness that serves its economic interests as much as its political ones.
في مسرح الإعلانات الكبرى الخليجية — المدن العملاقة بمئات مليارات الدولارات، وصفقات صناديق الثروة السيادية، وسباقات الفورمولا 1 — تكاد عُمان تكون غير مرئية. السلطان هيثم بن طارق الذي تولّى الحكم في يناير 2020 لا يُحبّذ الأضواء والمشهدية. يفضّل الكفاءة. وفي منطقة عانت أحياناً من فائض في الاستعراض، ربما يكون هذا بالضبط ما تحتاجه عُمان.
الأرقام باتت تعكس تحولاً هادئاً. خُفّض عجز الميزانية العُمانية من نحو 15% من الناتج المحلي الإجمالي عام 2020 إلى أقل من 2%، عبر مزيج من الضبط الإنفاقي وتحسّن عائدات النفط وسلسلة من الإصلاحات الهيكلية التي لم تستأثر باهتمام يُذكر خارج مسقط.