La naissance d'une économie moderne dans le Sultanat d'Oman

Abstract

The Birth of a Modem Economical System in the Sultanate of Oman. The Sultanate of Oman is located in the extreme south-eastern portion of the Arabian peninsula and covers an area of 260,000 sq. km. A mountainous country, there are three distinctive parts to it : the coastal plains, the calcareous dorsal which culminates at an altitude of 3,000 meters at Jabal al Akhdar, and the high dry plains of the interior. The most favored region, the Batinah, is along the seaside to the west of Mascate, the capital, which, at Matrah, is also a deepwater seaport. Since the arrival to power of the sultan Qaboos in 1970, Oman has attained to a population of 800,000 inhabitants, has opened itself up to the outside world and a modern economical system is in the process of mush¬ rooming in it. Petroleum has been the main factor to this "opening up". In 1975, oil production was 16,618,000 tons, while the exploitation of natural gas began. Petroleum income has been responsible for the establishment of the infra-structures (a network of 500 kilometers of asphalt roads in 1975), the creation of modern ports and of an international airport, of social facilities and of an industrial and agricultural development program. The first Five Year Plan (1976-1980), the accomplishment of which should be favored by the end of the Dhofar war, has as its main objective the diversification of the revenu sources of the Government.