Shura Council holds meeting on Monday

Muscat: The Ministers of Economy and Finance, in two statement before the Shura Council, affirm the observance of the state's general budget 2021 to meet basic services in the fields of education, health, and the provision of jobs. 

Members of the Shura Council on Monday morning in a non-public session heard the statements of both His Excellency the Minister of Finance and His Excellency the Minister of Economy on the draft of the state's general budget for the fiscal year 2021 and the draft of the tenth five-year development plan (2021-2025).

During the session, the two ministers stressed in their statement the importance of financial sustainability of the state's general budget, noting that the decline in state revenues was due to the drop in oil prices and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, it was emphasized that the state's general budget 2021 would meet basic services in the fields of education and health. It was also indicated that employment will be according to the availability of financial capabilities and the need of government agencies to do so, in addition to that the government will seek to create job opportunities for citizens in the private sector.

The members also discussed the importance of reviewing the cost of oil extraction and the disparity therein and reviewing the cost of electricity production and government subsidies provided to citizens.

This came during the third regular session of the Council for the second annual session (2021-2020) of the ninth period (2023-2019) which is allocated to discuss the draft state budget for the next fiscal year (2021) and the draft of the tenth five-year development plan (2025-2021) and to get acquainted with The volume of oil and non-oil revenues, estimates of public spending, rates of economic growth and the financial position of the government, its fiscal and monetary policy, the volume of investment, savings rates, the level of oil and gas production and their expected prices over the next year, and the programs and projects to be implemented during the tenth five-year development plan.