Oman Ranks 5th in Arab Economics

The Sultanate of Oman ranks fifth in the Arab world in terms of the highest economic growth rates for the year 2023, according to a new ranking prepared by the American Visual Capitalist magazine.

In its report titled ‘GDP Growth Forecasts by Country, in 2023’, American Visual Capitalist magazine indicated that the expected economic growth rate for the Sultanate of Oman this year is 4.1 percent, placing it fifth in the Arab world.

Leading Arab economies

Among the Arab countries, Libya is expected to lead with an economic growth rate of 17.9 percent. This is followed by Djibouti with a projected growth of 5 percent, while Mauritania is expected to grow by 4.9 percent. The UAE ranks fourth in the Arab world with an estimated growth rate of 4.2 percent.

The highest expected economic growth rate in the world is for the Macau Special Administrative Region of China, with a rate of 56.7 percent, followed by Libya with a rate of 17.9 percent, and Palau in the Western Pacific with a rate of 12.3 percent.

The cost of war

The magazine confirmed that since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine early last year, talk of a global recession has dominated predictions for 2023. It added that high inflation, caused by rising energy costs, has weighed on GDP growth.

It noted that energy prices are very important to European economies and although fuel prices have come down from peak levels, the continent is still on shaky ground.

The report highlighted the tightening of monetary policy in the United States, where interest rates have jumped from almost 0% to more than 4% by 2022.

The magazine pointed out that the global economy as a whole is expected to see gross domestic product growth of just 2.9 percent in 2023, down from 3.2 percent in 2022.