Oman plans to boost budget spending by 26 percent in its five-year plan, which ends in 2015, to create jobs and improve living standards in the Gulf Arab oil exporter, its finance minister said on Sunday. The sultanate, which was hit by protests demanding jobs and an end to corruption last year, has planned to spend 43 billion rials ($112 billion) over five years.
However, Finance Minister Darwish al-Balushi told Reuters that the government has now decided to increase the planned amount to 54 billion rials to cover "additional obligations". Oman's five-year spending plans are usually evenly distributed, but it is not specified how much money will be injected into its oil-reliant economy each year. He did not say how the 2012 budget would be affected by the increase.