RIYADH: Oman’s general budget recorded a surplus of 656 Omani million rials ($1.7 billion) at the end of the first half of 2023, compared to a surplus of 784 million rials achieved over the same period in 2022. According to the Fiscal Performance Bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance, the public revenue amounted to 6.34 billion rials, down by 6 percent when compared to the 6.72 billion rials registered over the same period in 2022. However, the Ministry of Finance by the end of the first half of 2023 repaid more than 507 million rials to the private sector. It also repaid more than 1.5 billion rials against public debt, reducing the total public debt to 16.3 billion rials. Meanwhile, real estate trading in Oman witnessed a boom as its value surged 18.9 percent in June to hit 1.4 billion rials. This figure is up from the 1.1 billion rials recorded during the corresponding period in 2022, Oman News Agency reported. Data from the National Center for Statistics and Information revealed that the fees collected for all legal actions involving these transactions amounted to 33.4 million rials, reflecting an increase of 10.3 percent from June 2022. The data also indicated that the traded value of sale contracts amounted to 545.7 million rials for 32,907 contracts, reflecting an 11.1 percent increase in terms of value as well as an 8.5 percent drop with regard to the number of contracts. In addition to this, the traded value of mortgage contracts surged by 52.6 percent, recording 852.1 million rials for a total of 12,062 contracts, the data disclosed. HIGHLIGHTS • The fees collected for all legal actions involving real estate transactions amounted to 33.4 million rials. • The total number of hotel guests increased by 27.4 percent, recording about 943,068 guests at the end of June. • The country registered a 4.7 percent increase in the GDP at the end of the first quarter. As for the number of swap contracts, they reached 732 arrangements, with an accumulative value of 4.8 million rials. Moreover, the number of properties issued by the end of June 2023 amounted to about 117,870, an increase of 1.3 percent. The number of properties issued to citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries reached 633, an increase of 79.3 percent. Hotels revenues On the other hand, data from the National Center for Statistics and Information also revealed that the revenues of hotels with a rating of 3 to 5 stars in the country recorded about 110 million Omani rials by the end of June 2023, reflecting an increase of 32 percent compared to the 83 million Omani rials recorded by the corresponding period a year ago. According to the statistics, the total number of hotel guests increased by 27.4 percent, recording about 943,068 guests at the end of June, compared to 740,050 guests in the same period of 2022. As for the occupancy rate, it recorded a growth of 10.8 percent to reach 47.1 percent, compared to 42.5 percent during the same period a year ago. According to the Fiscal Performance Bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance, the State’s General Budget registered a surplus of 656 million Omani rials by the end of the first half of 2023, compared to a surplus of 784 million Omani rials achieved over the same period in 2022. The bulletin revealed that the public revenue of the state budget at the end of the first half of 2023 amounted to 6.34 billion, down by 6 percent when compared to the 6.72 billion registered over the same period in 2022. Oman continues to be one of the best-performing economies in the Gulf region, with its gross domestic product reaching 8.7 billion Omani rials at constant prices in the first quarter of 2023, official data released in July showed. The country registered a 4.7 percent increase in the GDP at the end of the first quarter against the same period last year, according to data revealed by Oman’s National Centre of Statistics and Information at the time. The increase was primarily driven by non-petroleum activities that recorded a 4.6 percent increase year on year to reach 6.07 billion rials in the first quarter of 2023, the report added at the time.