促进创业和中小企业以支持阿曼的经济多样化：阿曼（英）

FosteringEntrepreneurship andSMEs to SupportEconomic Diversificationin Oman Bilal Tabti SIP/2025/035 IMF Selected Issues Papers are prepared by IMF staff asbackground documentation for periodic consultations withmember countries.It is based on the information available atthe time it was completed onDecember 18, 2024. This paper isalso published separately as IMF Country Report No 25/14. 2025APR IMF Selected Issues Paper Middle East and Central Asia Department Fostering Entrepreneurship and SMEs to Support Economic Diversification in Oman Prepared by Bilal TabtiAuthorized for distribution by Cesar SerraApril2025 IMF Selected Issues Papersare prepared by IMF staff as background documentation for periodicconsultations with member countries.It is based on the information available at the time it wascompleted on December 18, 2024. This paper is also published separately as IMF Country Report No25/14. ABSTRACT: The transition to a vibrant economy under Oman Vision 2040 and the urgency to develop a more dynamicprivate sector that can absorb the entry of a young and educated labor force both stress the need to empowerSMEs, which play a large role in supporting job creation and nonhydrocarbon activity in Oman. This note takesstock of the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Oman, identifies past and currentbottlenecks that hinder entrepreneurial dynamism, and documents recent reforms aimed at lowering the costsassociated with doing business, facilitating access to finance, and enhancing the integration of SMEs into valuechains. The analysis suggests that policies complementing existing initiatives, through a private sector drivencredit guarantee scheme, by adapting insolvency frameworks tailored to SMEs, and supporting linkagesbetween SMEs and multinational enterprises in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), could help maximize long-term gains to SMEs and the broader economy. RECOMMENDED CITATION:Tabti, Bilal 2025. “Fostering Entrepreneurship and SMEs to SupportEconomic Diversification in Oman” IMF Selected Issues Paper (SIP/2025/035). Washington, D.C.:International Monetary Fund. Fostering Entrepreneurship andSMEs to Support EconomicDiversification in Oman Oman Prepared by Bilal Tabti A.Context 1.SMEs are expected to play a key role in supporting long-term growth and job creation in Oman.1Oman aims to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbon production towards a private sector andknowledge driven economy that is competitive internationally, as stated in its national strategic plan, OmanVision 2040. Concurrently, the economy will need to create around 30 thousand new jobs annually between2024 and 2032 to absorb the entry of a young and increasingly educated labor force, which cannot longer relyon public sector jobs amid efforts to entrench fiscal sustainability (IMF, 2024a). As such, SMEs, whichrepresented around 98 percent of firms, contributed to about 33 percent of nonhydrocarbon GDP,andemployed 76 percent of the private sector workforce in 2023, are poised to play a larger role in Oman’sdiversification.2 2.Oman has experienced a decline in firm entry throughout the last decade.The startup rate,measured by the share of newly registered limited liability companies, has been on a downward trend in Omanduring 2006-2020, falling from 14.5 percent in 2006 to 6.5 percent in 2020. A similar trend can be observedamong all newly registered establishments through 2021, including when grouped by size as identified byinitial capitalization levels (Figure 1). 3.SME activity rebounded in the post-COVID 19 period.The SME share of the private sectorworkforce increased from 68 percent in 2020 to 76 percent in 2023, mainly reflecting the expansion of smallfirms. Similarly, the SME contribution to nonhydrocarbon GDP slightly increased following the pandemic toalmost 33 percent (Table 1), but it remains well below that of other peers (for example, UAE’s level at 64percent in 2022).3 B.Obstacles to SME Development 4.SME growth and entrepreneurship have been hindered by several obstacles in Oman.Inparticular: •Limited access to credit.As in many otheremerging markets and developing countries(EMDEs), entrepreneurs planning new businessventures and SMEs’ expansion projects have facedconstraints in access to finance through commercialbanks, owing to higher risk (as non-performingloans are estimated at almost one third of totalloans to the sector), imperfect information aboutbusiness prospects, and lack of collateral. While theCentral Bank of Oman (CBO) has longrecommended a floor of 5 percent of commercialbanks’ loan portfolio to be allocated to SMEs, thishas only reached 3.7 percent in 2022 (Figure 3),highlighting the need for additional initiatives thatcan help crowd in commercial banks. •Risk-taking is insufficiently encouraged. On one side, insolvency legislation in Oman does not providefor a path towards financial rehabilitation to struggling entrepreneurs wishing to return to business activityan