The Oman Investment Authority (OIA) has launched Future Fund Oman to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country and support small and medium-sized local businesses (SMEs).
The fund has a capital of RO 2 billion, which will be utilised over five years, with RO 400 million being invested every year.
The Fund will allocate 90% of its capital to directly invest in new or existing investment projects that prove to be commercially and economically viable, according to official reports. Meanwhile, 7% will be allocated to SMEs and 3% to startups.
The fund is expected to focus on sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, green energy, maritime resources and technology.
Future Fund Oman is expected to be governed by two committees. One will be an Investment Committee, comprised of five members representing OIA, the Ministry of Finance, and independent entities. This committee will be responsible for approving new and follow-up investments as well as divestments.
The second committee will be the Advisory Committee, tasked with the supervision and follow-up on SME and startup investments.
The fund is set to complement the existing government financing and investment ecosystem that currently involves several institutions such as the Development Bank, SMEs Development Fund, Rakiza Fund, Oman Technology Fund, etc.
Oman’s finance ministry has been announced as an strategic partner of the Future Fund.
Over the past few years, Oman has been taking steps to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.
In 2019, the government introduced a new foreign capital investment law, which allows investors from abroad to conduct any commercial activity in or from Oman without the need for a legal entity or local commercial agent there.
This allowed the country to attract 235 FDI projects between 2019 and 2023, according to figures published by GlobalData’s FDI Projects Database show.