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Merge 104.8 | 08 June 2020
Government institutions in Oman have awarded OMR 38 million in tenders and procurement to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) registered with Riyada in 2019, representing 6.74 per cent of total spending in government tenders and procurement executed in 2019. The share of the institutions that obtained the ‘Entrepreneur Card’ for projects fully-owned by Omani nationals was OMR 16 million.
As Oman News Agency (ONA) reports that, according to the analysis of data received from the Ministry of Finance, government tenders and procurement data awarded to SMEs registered with ‘Riyada’ in 2019 revealed that 1,714 SMEs benefited from government tenders and procurement, including 705 SMEs holding a Riyada Entrepreneur Card.
As per ONA, the same data showed that Riyada is the highest-awarding government agency to registered SMEs, compared to the total amounts of tenders and procurement. Riyada’s percentage amounted to 47.22 per cent of the total awarded in 2019, followed by the Supreme Committee for National Day Celebrations with 33.02 per cent, the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources with 25.71 per cent, the National Records and Archives Authority with 25.55 per cent, Al Raffd Fund with 22.36 per cent, and the Omani Academic Accreditation Authority with 20.33 per cent.
Halima bint Rashid al- Zaria, Acting CEO of Riyada said: “The data of 20 government institutions from government procurement and tenders awarded to SMEs in 2019 clearly indicate the keenness of a large number of those authorities to increase their support for small and medium enterprises, and they deserve our thanks and appreciation for giving awarding priority out of their belief in the role of Omani youth and their ability to carry out business and support the national economy.”
Al-Zeria added that the awarding percentage to SMEs in 2019 available from the Ministry of Finance increased by 4.24 per cent in 2018, stressing that the awarding percentage to SMEs does not include sub-contracting for large companies that implement government projects and, thus, awarding by some institutions may be higher than shown in the provided data.
Source: ONA
(Also read: Oman’s hotel revenue drops by 24% as of end of March 2020.)
