Oman’s FDI Stock Grows 6.4 Percent to 32.2 Billion Rials, Financial Sector Up 18.4 Percent

By The Edge Research Team

Foreign direct investment in Oman reached a stock of 32.211 billion Omani rials at the end of June 2026, up 6.4 percent on a year earlier, according to preliminary statistics from the National Centre for Statistics and Information carried by the Oman News Agency on 17 October. At the Central Bank of Oman’s fixed peg of 2.6008 dollars per rial, that is equivalent to 83.78 billion dollars, and the 12-month gain of 1.932 billion rials is equivalent to 5.02 billion dollars, on our calculation.

The headline growth rests on a broad base. All 3 sectors named in the release grew, financial intermediation fastest at 18.4 percent. Every one of the 4 investor countries named in the release also added to its holdings, Kuwait among them.

Growth outside oil and gas outpaces the core sector

Oil and gas extraction remains the anchor. Foreign investment in the sector reached 25.824 billion rials, up 5.7 percent, which is 80.2 percent of the total stock on our calculation. In the end-June 2025 release that share was 80.7 percent, so the other sectors have gained weight in the stock.

On our calculation, foreign investment outside oil and gas reached 6.388 billion rials at the end of June, up 9.1 percent from 5.853 billion a year earlier. That is well ahead of the 5.7 percent growth in the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas still supplied most of the 12-month increase in the stock: 1.397 billion rials, or 72.3 percent of it. The other 0.535 billion rials, or 27.7 percent, came from the remaining sectors, whose combined share of the stock is 19.8 percent.

Manufacturing is the second-largest destination at 2.830 billion rials, up 4.7 percent, or 8.8 percent of the stock. Financial intermediation reached 1.601 billion rials. Its 18.4 percent rise is 2.9 times the pace of the total stock, and the sector’s share is now 5.0 percent. The 2 sectors have also grown faster than the total in 2026 so far. Since the end of December, financial intermediation is up 6.7 percent and manufacturing 5.8 percent, against 2.6 percent for the whole stock, on our calculation. Sectors outside the 3 named account for 1.957 billion rials, 8.8 percent more than a year earlier, on our calculation.

Oman FDI stock by sector, end of June

Preliminary figures. The 2025 column is from the end-June 2025 release. The other-sectors line is the total minus the 3 named sectors, and its change is our calculation; the other changes are as published.

The UK and US lead, and Kuwait’s investment rises to 1.385 billion rials

The UK remains the largest investor, with 16.766 billion rials, up 6.6 percent. That is 52.0 percent of the stock, on our calculation. The US follows with 8.685 billion rials, up 7.3 percent. Together the 2 countries account for 79.0 percent of all foreign direct investment in Oman.

Kuwait’s investment grew 1.7 percent to 1.385 billion rials, which is 4.3 percent of the total stock on our calculation. At the end of June 2025 Kuwait’s investment was 1.362 billion rials, and at the end of December 2025, when it was the third-largest investor, 1.361 billion rials. Its holding is up 1.8 percent since December, on our calculation. China’s investment grew 5.8 percent to 903.8 million rials. The 4 named countries hold 86.1 percent of the stock between them. All other investors together account for 4.472 billion rials.

Oman FDI stock by investor country, end of June

Preliminary figures. The 2025 column is from the end-June 2025 release; changes are as published.

An 11 percent gain in 18 months, and an end-2025 stock worth 74.5 percent of output

At the end of 2024 the stock stood at 29.02 billion rials. Measured from that base, the gain to the end of June 2026 is 11.0 percent in 18 months, on our calculation.

Annual growth has moderated over the same period. It was 12.8 percent at the end of June 2025, 8.1 percent at the end of December and 8.7 percent at the end of March, before the 6.4 percent now reported. Over the second quarter itself the stock was almost unchanged, rising 14.4 million rials from the 32.197 billion rials published for the end of March. Against end-March, financial intermediation rose 2.3 percent and China’s investment 0.3 percent, while oil and gas was 0.3 percent lower, manufacturing 1.4 percent, the UK 0.7 percent and the US 0.1 percent. Kuwait’s 1.385 billion rials compares with 1.444 billion rials at the end of March, 4.1 percent lower, on our calculation. All of these figures are preliminary.

Oman FDI stock and annual growth

Preliminary figures, each as first published.

The stock is large against the size of the economy. Oman’s nominal GDP for 2025 was a preliminary 42.143 billion rials, and the end-2025 investment stock of 31.381 billion rials equals 74.5 percent of it, on our calculation. The ratio sets an accumulated stock against a single year’s output, so it measures the scale of foreign investment rather than the share of the economy foreign investors own.

Why it matters: The figures show foreign capital in Oman growing and spreading beyond hydrocarbons. Investment outside oil and gas grew 9.1 percent and financial intermediation 18.4 percent, lifting the share of sectors other than oil and gas by half a point in a year, while the core sector itself grew 5.7 percent. Kuwait, the third-largest investor at the end of 2025, has raised its investment to 1.385 billion rials.

Outlook: The end-September figures will show whether the faster growth outside oil and gas, and in financial services in particular, carries into the second half. Second-quarter GDP at current prices, up 25.6 percent with non-oil activities up 9.6 percent on the same basis, gives foreign investors a larger economy to invest in.

Sources: National Centre for Statistics and Information, Oman News Agency, Central Bank of Oman, The Edge.

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