Omani Economy: what's going on?

So what's the Oman economy doing at the moment?  I'm not an economist but can't help but notice a number of things that raise question marks about the economy and what the impact from the recent regional unrest might have caused.

Case that the economy is slacking: how long is it taking to complete public works: the airport, the opera house; property prices staying low: the Wave properties are showing significant discounts to where they were; and finally the number of empty shops and restaurants (even the new ones that ought to have a bit of a buzz are very quiet/empty).  Then when you hear of the larger industries suffering from a withdrawal of investment, you wonder what the Government is doing to reinforce the message that Oman's economy has strong fundamentals and how it is seeking to continue to persuade external investment in the Country.

Implications of inappropriate behaviour at the ministerial level will further impact external views on Oman as a country to invest in and a change of minister implies tackling the symptom but not providing the cure.

Were the marches really about the slightly fanciful eradication of personal debt and increased government jobs and wages or was the real message one of increasing the level of judicial review of public servants and enabling a free press to probe and offer a public challenge to the stakeholders of Oman's future?  A free market is not about opening up to competition but also ensuring a fair and level playing field, without this neither overseas investors will seek to create jobs and the limited number of entrepreneurs in the country will remain that way.  The easier option being to seek a safe government job for life which requires little by way of challenge.

Are the economic woes directly linked to the underlying problems highlighted (deep within the messages) in the various demonstrations?  The country has been able to develop rapidly over the last forty years thanks to HM but during that time the world has also become a smaller place with regions facing greater global competition.  Hiding away from this global competition will only hinder the development of the Oman economy and/or lead to a brain drain of the talented Omanis leaving the country to seek the challenge in a meritocratic environment only obtainable elsewhere.

The challenge for the country is to accelerate the development of Oman in the new global economy.  With a stability and infrastructure that is the envy of the region, unfortunately the competition is no longer local but global and Oman (which is a relatively small country) needs to target and consider a plan to enter the Premier League.