RIYADH: Total assets of Oman’s sovereign wealth fund increased 12 percent to nearly 17.9 billion Omani rials ($46.50 billion) in 2022 compared to 15.98 billion rials in 2021, according to a report issued by the country’s investment authority, on Wednesday. The Oman Investment Authority said in its annual report that the return on investment for 2022 was 8.8 percent, which contributed 5.6 billion rials in dividends to the Finance Ministry. According to Finance Minister Sultan bin Salim Al-Habsi, also the chairman of OIA, a resurgence in the economic and investment scenario in the aftermath of the coronavirus disease pandemic changed the fortunes of OIA in 2022. “OIA is not immune to the impact of world events, but they did not pose an obstacle to our ongoing journey toward growing Oman’s economy and achieving financial sustainability,” said Al-Habsi. He added: “The National Development Portfolio, which includes more than 160 OIA companies, continues to grow. Performance has also improved, and production has increased, bringing profits to more than 1.4 billion rials.” The minister said one of Oman’s Vision 2040 priorities is to remain focused on empowering the private sector to eventually be at the forefront of the country’s economy. Meanwhile, Abdulsalam Al-Murshidi, the president of OIA, pointed out that while 2022 was full of both opportunities and challenges, they dealt with them with thoughtful planning. “We made sound investment decisions in response to international developments and ultimately achieved excellent results,” he said. Commenting on their plans to enhance the country’s Future Generations Fund, which represents 40 percent of OIA’s assets, Al-Murshidi said: “We entered a number of new investments, including the pioneering company Group 14, which manufactures silicon anode batteries; Crusoe Energy, which has developed an innovative technology that captures flare gas emitted from oil and gas fields to generate clean energy; and Ascend Elements, which has introduced state-of-the-art technology to recycle lithium-ion batteries,” He added that they also invested in 13 private investment funds in Europe, Asia, and North America. According to the OIA report, 60.5 percent of the authority’s assets are allocated in rials, 34 percent in US dollars, 3 percent in euros, 1.5 percent in pound sterling, and 1 percent in other currencies. The report also stated that the number of employees in OIA and its companies exceeded 38,000, with a nationalization rate of 78 percent. It added that OIA and its companies created 800 new jobs for Omanis in 2022.