Oman Investment Authority’s assets hit $46.6bn in 2022

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The Oman Investment Authority (OIA) said in its annual report that its total assets reached OMR17.9bn ($46.6bn) in 2022. The country’s sovereign wealth fund said its return-on-investment last year was 8.8 per cent, which allowed it to contribute more than OMR5.6bn from 2016 until the end of 2022 to the country’s coffers in the form of dividends to support the general budget.

Sultan Salim Al Habsi, Minister of Finance and chairman of the Board of Directors of OIA, said, “The prevailing conditions did not constitute an obstacle to OIA’s continuous journey toward promoting economic development and achieving financial sustainability in the Sultanate of Oman.”

The National Development Portfolio includes OIA’s national assets and aims to contribute to the growth of the national economy and support the state’s general budget. “The National Development Portfolio continues to grow. Performance has also improved, and production has increased, bringing profits to more than OMR1.4bn,” he added.

The report showed OIA’s focus on recruiting and developing national competencies. It reported the number of employees at OIA and its companies exceeded 38,000 employees, with a total Omanisation rate of 78 per cent, with more than 1,700 jobs out of 4,000 identified for potential Omanisation within the next five years.

OIA’s varied portfolio

Apart from domestic investments in Oman constituting about 60 per cent of total investments, OIA has investments in a number of countries globally including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, and Africa.

Last month, OIA signed a preliminary agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to explore investment opportunities worth as much as $5bn in the Sultanate. “Through its investments that spread across more than 50 countries globally, OIA managed to record good returns on investment and rewarding profits,” Al Habsi added.

The minister said one of Oman’s Vision 2040 priorities is to remain focused on empowering the private sector to eventually be at the forefront of the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, Abdulsalam Al-Murshidi, the president of OIA, pointed out that while 2022 was full of both opportunities and challenges, they dealt with them with thoughtful planning. “We made sound investment decisions in response to international developments and ultimately achieved excellent results,” he said.

Addtionally, the Future Generations Fund encompasses OIA’s international investments and mainly targets generating sustainable financial returns through long-term investments. It focuses on international investments with 40 per cent of OIA’s assets under its umbrella.

For OIA’s divestment activities in 2022, it oversaw the listing of the Pearl REIF, the first real estate fund, in the Muscat Stock Exchange, as well as divesting from the International Maritime College Oman and preparing six assets in different sectors for divestment during 2023.

This marks the second annual report published by OIA. The annual report also addressed the sovereign wealth fund’s governance, the geographical distribution of its assets, and key updates about its strategic partnerships, companies.