Selected Issues Papers

Fostering Entrepreneurship and SMEs to Support Economic Diversification in Oman: Oman

By Bilal Tabti

April 15, 2025

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Format: Chicago

Bilal Tabti. "Fostering Entrepreneurship and SMEs to Support Economic Diversification in Oman: Oman", Selected Issues Papers 2025, 035 (2025), accessed November 9, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229008372.018

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Summary

The transition to a vibrant economy under Oman Vision 2040 and the urgency to develop a more dynamic private sector that can absorb the entry of a young and educated labor force both stress the need to empower SMEs, which play a large role in supporting job creation and nonhydrocarbon activity in Oman. This note takes stock of the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Oman, identifies past and current bottlenecks that hinder entrepreneurial dynamism, and documents recent reforms aimed at lowering the costs associated with doing business, facilitating access to finance, and enhancing the integration of SMEs into value chains. The analysis suggests that policies complementing existing initiatives, through a private sector driven credit guarantee scheme, by adapting insolvency frameworks tailored to SMEs, and supporting linkages between SMEs and multinational enterprises in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), could help maximize long-term gains to SMEs and the broader economy.

Subject: Corporate insolvency, Economic sectors, Financial crises, Financial institutions, Financial sector policy and analysis, Labor, Loans, Self-employment, Small and medium enterprises, Solvency

Keywords: Corporate insolvency, Credit guarantee scheme, Credit guarantees, Entrepreneurship, Foreign investment, Global, Global value chains, Integration of SME, Loans, Role of small and medium-sized enterprises, Self-employment, Skill building, Small and medium enterprises, SME growth, SME policy, Solvency, Technology policy, Training

Publication Details

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