Oman Investment Authority boosts assets to OMR19.6bn in 2023

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The Oman Investment Authority (OIA) boosted its assets to OMR19.6bn ($51bn), according to its 2023 annual report, up from OMR17.2bn a year earlier, as the fund accelerates geographic and sector-based diversification of its new international and local investments.

Oman’s wealth fund said it recorded more than OMR1.7bn in profit and contributed OMR800m to the state’s general budget. The fund said its contribution to the budget was “made from profits and returns only,” adding that “there was no need to liquidate or sell any assets.”

The state-controlled fund paid off OMR300m of debt owed by its companies in 2023.

The bulk of OIA’s investments are in Oman, which makes up 60.8 per cent of its portfolio. The sovereign fund’s assets include state firms operating in many sectors across the sultanate’s economy, including energy, aviation, maritime and telecommunications.

OIA’s National Development Fund, which oversees 160 holding companies and subsidiaries, invested more than OMR2.1bn in expanding and improving current projects.

Its Future Generations Fund, which includes OIA’s international investments, achieved 9.8 per cent returns, exceeding the target annual return of 5 per cent.

Earlier in January, Oman’s sovereign fund launched a new fund to invest in a wide range of industries to develop the national economy and attract foreign investments. The Future Fund Oman, as the fund is known, has a capital of OMR2bn that will be invested over the next five years.

Read: Oman sets up OMR2bn fund to oversee government investments