Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's ...



Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives),

Volume 34, June, 1988 Oman, Page 35997

© 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved.

Government appointments-Budget-Foreign relations Government appointments

A government reshuffle was announced on Dec. 30, 1987.

Sayyid Hilal bin Saud bin Hareb al-Busaidi, hitherto Minister of State and Wali (Governor) of Dhofar Province, was appointed Minister of Justice, Waqfs (Religious Endowments) and Islamic Affairs, replacing Sayyid Hilal bin Hamad al-Sammar al-Said, and was succeeded in his previous positions by Mr Mussallam bin Ali al Busaidi. Sayyid bin Hamad al-Busaidi was appointed State Adviser for Islamic Affairs. In addition, Mr Mohammad bin Ali al Qatabi was appointed President of the State Consultative Council (SCC), with effect from Jan. 1, 1988, replacing Sayyid Salim bin Nasser al-Busaidi, who was appointed State Adviser.

The commander-elect of the Omani Air Force, Air Commodore Mohammad bin Mubarak bin Marhoun, and two other officers were killed on June 10, 1987, when their transport aircraft crashed near the Strait of Hormuz.

The 1988 budget, aimed at stimulating the economy according to the guidelines laid out in the 1986–90 economic plan, was ratified by Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the country's ruler, on Jan. 3, 1988, as shown below (with the 1987 budget given for comparison; USdollars 1.00=0.385 Omani rials as at Jan. 6, 1988).

| |1988 |1987 |

| |(RO millions) |

|Expenditure Revenue |1,602 |1,610 |

|Oil |1,065 |1,080 |

|Total |1,350 |1,335 |

|Deficit |252 |275 |

This was the first year in which funds were allocated by sector as well as to individual ministries. Defence and security were allocated the largest portion of the expenditure budget, RO 533 million. Other allocations were RO 175 million for education, RO 135 million for energy and fuel, RO 76 million for health, RO 57 million for transport, RO 39 million for cultural and religious affairs and RO 39 million for agriculture and fisheries.

The Under-Secretary for Financial Affairs, Mr Mohammad bin Musa al-Youssef, announced on Dec. 3, 1987, that the budget deficit for 1986 was RO 666 million, due to the fall in oil prices [see 34702 A] and heavy public spending. He said that the gross 1987 budget deficit would be slightly lower than that forecast and that Oman was on target for a balanced budget in 1989.

It was announced on Sept. 24, 1987, that Mr Nazar bin Mohammad bin Ali al-Shaikh, hitherto the Omani ambassador to West Germany, had been appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union, the first since diplomatic relations were established in September 1985 [see 34014 A].

The Sultanate of Oman was the third Gulf country, after Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, to establish full diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union at ambassadorial level.

It was announced at the same time that Oman would open an embassy in South Yemen, as agreed in January 1987. []35098 A] The ambassador was named on Nov. 5, 1987, as Mr Mohammad bin Salim al-Hajri. The two countries had a long-standing border dispute, and diplomatic relations were only established in 1983, following the formal ending in November 1982 of 15 years’ of hostilities see 32048 A].

The appointment of Mr al-Hajri followed an incident on Oman-South Yemen border on Oct. 11, 1987, in which eight South Yemen soldiers were killed by Omani forces when they strayed 8 km into Omani territory. Both countries said that the incident was ‘an accident’.

Sultan Qaboos issued a decree on Feb. 2, 1988, stating that Oman would open an embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Oman and Syria had agreed to establish diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors following talks on Dec. 20, 1987, between the Omani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusuf al-Alawi Abdullah, and President Assad of Syria and the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farooq Ash-Shar.

Mr Abdullah visited Tehran, the capital of Iran, on May 16, 1987, at the head of a large delegation from a number of ministries. Iran's Foreign Minister, Dr Ali Akbar Vellayati, visited Oman in August 1987.

The Omani Defence Ministry announced in January 1988 that, following an agreement reached the previous month, Oman would in 1992 take delivery of the first of eight UK-West German-Italian-built Tornado aircraft which would cost in total approximately USdollars 350,000,000.–(Middle East Economic Digest-BBC Summary of World Broadcasts-Observer-Financial Times-Guardian-International Herald Tribune-Le Monde)

(Previous report 35222 A)

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