TRANSPARENCY OF OMANI NATIONAL BUDGET

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000269 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP AND EEB/IFD/OMA (J.JACOBY) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAID ECON MU SUBJECT: TRANSPARENCY OF OMANI NATIONAL BUDGET REF: STATE 28885 The following information below is provided in response to reftel questions (reprinted below) concerning the transparency of the Omani national government's annual budget : Question: Is this central government expected to receive or is it already receiving U.S. foreign assistance funded using FY09 funds? Answer: Yes. The Omani national government is expected to receive Foreign Military Financing (FMF),International Military Education and Training (IMET) and Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism and Demining (NADR) monies from FY09 foreign assistance funds. Question: Is the host country's budget publicly available? Answer: Yes. On the first day of the year, the Minister of National Economy presents the government's budget to the public and the numbers are subsequently reported by the media. This information is also available on the Ministry of National Economy's website. Question: Are incomes and expenditures included in the publicly-available budget? Answer: Yes. The publicly-available budget includes a detailed breakdown of projected revenues and expenditures across a variety of sectors. There is a commitment to provide accurate information; a December 2005 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that "Omani authorities have strongly committed to adhering to internationally accepted standards and good practices in statistics." There are, however, a few budgetary figures that are not accessible to the public, such as capital expenditures for national security, actual oil revenues, and surplus amounts that are transferred to Oman's reserve funds, including the State General Reserve Fund and the Oman Investment Fund. GRAPPO