none

Elections: none

Other political or pressure groups: outlawed Popular Front for the
Liberation of Oman (PFLO), based in South Yemen; small, clandestine Shia
fundamentalist groups are active

Member of: Arab League, FAO, G-77, GCC, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic
Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OIC, UN,
UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WMO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Awadh Bader AL-SHANFARI; Chancery at
2342 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 387-1980
through 1982;
US--Ambassador Richard BOEHM; Embassy at address NA, Muscat
(mailing address is P. O. Box 966, Muscat); telephone 738-231 or 738-006

Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top, double width), red, and green
(double width) with a broad, vertical, red band on the hoist side; the national
emblem (a khanjar dagger in its sheath superimposed on two crossed swords
in scabbards) in white is centered at the top of the vertical band

- Economy
Overview: Economic performance is closely tied to the fortunes of the oil
industry. Petroleum accounts for nearly all export earnings, about 70% of
government revenues, and more than 50% of GDP. Oman has proved oil reserves of
4 billion barrels, equivalent to about 20 years' supply at the current
rate of extraction. Although agriculture employs a majority of the population,
urban centers depend on imported food.

GDP: $7.8 billion, per capita $6,006; real growth rate - 3.0% (1987 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.0% (1988 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $3.1 billion; expenditures $4.2 billion,
including capital expenditures of $1.0 billion (1989 est.)

Exports: $3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1988 est.);
commodities--petroleum, reexports, processed copper, dates, nuts, fish;
partners--Japan, South Korea, Thailand

Imports: $1.9 billion (f.o.b., 1988 est.); commodities
--machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods, food,
livestock, lubricants; partners--Japan, UAE, UK, FRG, US

External debt: $3.1 billion (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 5.0% (1986)

Electricity: 1,130,000 kW capacity; 3,600 million kWh produced,
2,760 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: crude oil production and refining, natural gas production,
construction, cement, copper

Agriculture: accounts for 3.4% of GDP and 60% of the labor force
(including fishing); less than 2% of land cultivated; largely subsistence
farming (d