Shown above is His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik, who has successfully led the Sultanate of Oman despite the virus pandemic. The country will celebrate its 51st National Day of the Renaissance on Nov. 18

Oman has successfully dealt with the virus pandemic

The Sultanate of Oman said this week that it would mark the 51st National Day of the Renaissance that falls on Nov. 18.

The country’s national day celebrates independence from Portugal’s control in 1650. The date is also the start of a two-day break because Nov. 19 marks the birthday of the late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimour.

“National days of countries constitute symbols of pride and dignity. In Oman, they are moments of contemplation in the past and the future of the country, a time to remember the founder of modern Oman and its blessed Renaissance, the late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimour,” it said.

“His memory pulsates in the heart of every Omani, man, and woman, who incessantly pray for him in gratitude for his good deeds for the nation and its loyal people over 50 years.”

The country commented that the achievements made by the late Sultan Qaboos are stark and manifest in every sphere of life.

“From our past experiences, we have to derive new, strong will and firm resolve to work in full cooperation and collaboration—rallying our resources and energies and exhibiting self-denial in performing our duty in a manner that facilitates all difficulties and overcomes all challenges as we embark on accomplishing our national missions for the good of Oman and its noble people,” it said.

Grappling with COVID-19

Oman said that the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik had helped the country deal with the novel coronavirus, which has plagued the world over the past two years.

In particular, the country formed a Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from the virus pandemic.

“The Supreme Committee is responsible for cooperation with the departments concerned and regulating social response. It worked for the procurement of internationally approved vaccines and oversaw the implementation of a national immunization campaign.”

The country has also gone out all stops to prevent the virus pandemic from negatively affecting the economy by coming up with various measures.

Such efforts are expected to boost Oman’s economy, as amply demonstrated by the latest prediction from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The global entity came up with a report this September to project that Oman will achieve 2.5 percent GDP growth in 2021 and 4.2 percent growth by 2023.

The IMF also commended the measures undertaken by Oman while addressing the fallouts of COVID-19, as well as the country’s fiscal discipline and enhancement of business environment and support for stricken economic sectors.

The measures undertaken by Oman improved its credit rating in various agencies, including Moody’s, which amended its rating from “negative” to “stable” last month.

Moody’s expected that public debt in Oman vis-à-vis the GDP will decline from 80 percent in 2020 to 60 percent in 2024, as well as the decline of the annual government funding needs to GDP from 22 percent in 202 to 10 percent.

Standard & Poor’s also amended its future outlook for Oman from “stable” to “positive.”

In the meantime, Fitch pointed out last May that the fiscal plan contributed to the improvement of scenarios for Oman’s financial position and expected a 6.1 percent decline of Budget deficit to GDP this year.  It also expected a 3.3 percent economic growth for Oman by next year.

이 기사를 공유합니다
Copyright © The Korea News Plus