Oman offers up residency incentive to foreign investors

The latest move to boost foreign direct investment into the sultanate, will see Oman grant investors residency for five or 10 years, which is subject to extension.

“Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MOCIIP) announces an Investors’ Residency Programme aimed at backing up the investment environment in the Sultanate and enticing typical investments, creating job opportunities, and supporting the domestic economy with feasible projects compatible with Oman Vision 2040 goals,” the official statement said.

The exact conditions of the visa program are yet to be announced, it added.

Oman’s Foreign Capital Investment Law, which significantly relaxed rules and restrictions on foreign investment, came into effect in January 2020.

A PwC report on the law said it “streamlined the registration and licensing procedures for foreign investors and aligned foreign investors’ rights and incentives to those given to local investors”.

But the biggest change came with allowing 100 percent foreign ownership across a number of sectors – a move the UAE recently introduced and Qatar is rumoured to be following suit as competition to attract investment heats up among Gulf nations.

Oman has also taken steps to increase its ease of doing business; it was ranked 68th in 2020 by the World Bank.

The cash-strapped country has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis and the associated fall in oil prices and is looking for ways to boost its state revenues and drive investment in the country.

Oman is expected to run a 6.1 percent deficit of gross domestic product this year according to Fitch Ratings. In 2022, it is expected to hit 5 percent, compared to over 18 percent in 2020.

The country’s debt is rated junk by the three major credit assessors and Oman is currently in preliminary discussions for a potential Islamic bond, or sukuk, sale this year. Oman last tapped the international debt market in January, when it raised $3.25 billion.