Local business sentiment positive, says OBG Survey

Muscat: Majority of chief executive officers (CEOs) based in Oman are broadly confident about their prospects for growth in the coming 12 months, despite the challenging economic backdrop, according to a survey of senior executives undertaken by global research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG).
As part of its Business Barometer: Oman CEO Survey, OBG asked senior executives across the Sultanate a series of questions aimed at gauging broad-based business sentiment. The survey has been produced in collaboration with the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE).
In the survey, two-thirds of respondents said their expectations in relation to the Sultanate’s business conditions were very positive or positive. Nearly 60 per cent of business leaders surveyed also felt their company was very likely or likely to make a significant capital investment in the next 12 months.
Oman’s tax environment, meanwhile, met with almost universal favour, with just under 90 per cent of respondents describing it as very competitive or competitive.
Significantly, just over 41 per cent of the CEOs approached said public spending accounted for less than one-fifth of their business; confirming as inaccurate the still widely held notion that Oman’s private sector relies heavily on the government for work.
Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, CEO, PEIE, said the broadly positive business sentiment evident in the results of OBG’s survey was welcome news, given that Oman inevitably faced further economic reforms and cost-cutting measures.
“In spite of the oil price fluctuations, the investment climate in Oman is quite good,” he said. “New tenants coming into our industrial estates are, in a way, an indication of the appetite to invest.”
“The Sultanate has avoided the volatility experienced by some of its neighbours, perhaps missing out on the highs, but also steering clear of the lows,” Oliver Cornock, OBG's editor-in-chief and managing editor for the Middle East, noted. “In what is undoubtedly a difficult economic climate, our findings point to a business community reasonably confident about the outlook for 2017 and beyond.”
The OBG Business Barometer: CEO Surveys form part of the firm’s extensive portfolio of research tools.