Government-by-Government Assessments: Oman
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. It did not publish an executive budget proposal. Limited information on debt obligations was publicly available online. However, the government did not publicly disclose the debts of state-owned enterprises. Publicly available budget documents lacked sufficient detail and did not include allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises, or allocations to the royal family. The government maintained off-budget accounts not subject to audit or oversight. Military and intelligence budgets were not subject to civilian oversight. The supreme audit institution does not meet international standards of independence, and it did not audit the government’s executed budget. The process for awarding natural resource extraction licenses and contracts was outlined in law. While the criteria for making natural resource extraction awards were not generally public, bidders have been informed about the criteria for awards through the bidding process. Basic information on awards was publicly available. Oman’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- making its executive budget proposal widely and easily accessible to the general public within a reasonable period of time;
- disclosing allocations to, earnings from and debt information of state-owned enterprises;
- publishing expenditures for the royal family;
- subjecting military and intelligence budgets to civilian oversight;
- subjecting off-budget accounts to audit and oversight and making information on such accounts publicly available;
- ensuring supreme audit institution meets international standards, audits the government’s annual executed budget, and makes its reports public; and
- making the criteria for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses publicly available.