MUSCAT: The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Sultanate of Oman has increased by 7.7% by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.

It has been estimated to be over OMR 17 billion compared to the same period in 2020, when over OMR 15 billion was recorded as the volume of FDI.

According to the statistics issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the volume of foreign direct investment inflows until the end of the fourth quarter of last year was over OMR 1 billion.

The United Kingdom stood at the top of the list of foreign direct investments in the Sultanate of Oman for the earlier mentioned period.

The total investments from UK amounted over OMR 7 billion, followed by the United States of America with investment value over OMR 2 billion. Tthe United Arab Emirates was ranked third with an investment value of over OMR 1 billion, followed by Kuwait’s investment of over OMR 937 million. China recorded FDI value of over OMR 862 million, the Kingdom of Bahrain recorded FDI value over OMR 375 million, and lastly, Qatar’s FDI value was over OMR 313 million.

The oil and gas extraction activity sector accounted for the largest proportion of foreign direct investments with a value of over OMR 11 billion in 2021.

The financial intermediation sector ranked second in the volume of investments with a value of over OMR 1 billion, a decrease of 1.81 percent compared to the same period in 2020.

As for the manufacturing sector, it came in third place with a value of over OMR 1 billion, the real estate sector with a value of over OMR 1 billion and other sectors accounted for over OMR 1 billion, of which the volume of foreign direct investment decreased by 4.71 percent compared to the same period in 2020.