Oman to Spend $1bn on New Jobs
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Oil rich yet plagued with high unemployment, Oman has announced plans to spend an additional $1 billion to create jobs for its citizens over the next 12 months.
According to Reuters, the Arab state had reported earlier this month that government revenues surged 35 percent from a year earlier to 7.37 billion rials ($19.1 billion) in the first six months of this year, because of higher-than-anticipated oil prices and sharper growth in gas revenue.
Oil rich yet plagued with high unemployment, Oman has announced plans to spend an additional $1 billion to create jobs for its citizens over the next 12 months.
According to Reuters, the Arab state had reported earlier this month that government revenues surged 35 percent from a year earlier to 7.37 billion rials ($19.1 billion) in the first six months of this year, because of higher-than-anticipated oil prices and sharper growth in gas revenue.
Oil income contributes significantly to Oman’s gross national product, amounting to almost two-thirds of its treasury revenues.
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The resulting budget surplus of 1.61 billion rials was more than four times the surplus recorded for the same period a year ago.
A finance ministry official told Reuters he was confident of a balanced budget and pledged to use “$1 billion of that windfall to create jobs in the next 12 months from September.”
However, the official did not elaborate on how the money would be spent, or whether the jobs created would be government posts of private sector jobs.
While the Oman government does not reveal unemployment statistics, a recent estimate from the International Monetary Fund suggests that the unemployment rate among Omani nationals was a staggering 24.4 percent in 2010. However, the IMF acknowledged its number for unemployment might include many people who were not truly looking for work.
With a population of approximately 2 million, the official suggests that approximately 22,000 Omani citizens are actively looking for jobs. Out of that number, about 15,000 are graduates who have just entered the labour market.
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Reuters noted:
[quote] Oman has a young population and anger about limited access to jobs has spilled over into sporadic street protests since early last year. The government says that through state spending and economic policies, it has created over 50,000 jobs between May last year and June this year. [/quote]
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