Number of
Commercial Registers in 2024 Grows By 13.9 Percent

Muscat, 17 Apr
(ONA) — The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion today
held its annual media briefing during which it announced that the number of
cumulative commercial registerations in 2024, compared to 2023 registerations, increased
by 13.96 percent to 441,773.

The
Ministry noted that, by the end of 2024, the contribution of domestic trade to
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), at current prices, grew by 3.6 percent to
more than RO 19 billion.

The
Ministry pointed out that the volume of foreign direct investment in the
Sultanate of Oman exceeded RO 30 billion by the end of 2024, an increase of
approximately RO 4.58 billion over the figures of the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile,
the volume of foreign direct investment in the converting industries sector stood
at more than RO 2.4 billion, the Ministry observed.

The
ministry added that the total volume of trade exchange between the Sultanate of
Oman and other countries around the world in 2024 exceeded RO 40.9 billion and
that the total commodity exports of Oman reached RO 24.2 billion.

The total
number of transactions completed through “Oman Business Platform” stood
at 827,129 during 2024, up by 15.1 percent as against 2023 figures, said the
Ministry, adding that the number of automatic licenses stood 1,164,221 by the
end of 2024, thus posting a rise of RO 1 million, since the automatic license
system was first introduced in April 2021.

According to
the Ministry, Sanad Service Centres completed more than 1.2 million electronic
transactions and services in 2024 through its 913 offices in different
governorates of Oman.

The number
of investment opportunities streamlined through “Invest Oman”
platform stood at 68, while the total number of investment projects whose
applications are being processed through the same platform stood at 90, said
the Ministry.

By the end
of February 2025, a total of 3,407 investors from more than 60 countries around
the world obtained investor residency programme cards.

The media
briefing was attended by Qais Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce,
Industry and Investment Promotion; Dr. Saleh Said Masan, Undersecretary of
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Ibtisam Ahmed Al Farooji, Undersecretary
of the Ministry of Investment Promotion and Pankaj Khimji, Adviser for Foreign
Trade and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry
and Investment Promotion.

— Ends/Bishara/AG