Oman gambles on oil prices

Oman is banking on oil prices [2] staying high this year to fund heavy spending on job creation and social welfare, according to plans released.

Finance Minister Darwish Al Balushi told a news conference that Oman, whose revenues come mostly from oil and gas exports, would need an oil price of $104 per barrel in 2013 to balance its state budget. [3]

This ‘break-even’ oil price has been rising since scattered street protests over economic conditions and political issues in 2011 prompted aggressive government spending [4] to head off potential social discontent. Balushi did not give last year’s break-even price, but economists polled by Reuters estimated it at around $83, up from $66 in 2011. 

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