Six years ago this month, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq inherited a country on the brink. Oman’s beloved ruler of nearly half a century had just died, oil prices had cratered, the COVID-19 pandemic was about to shut down the world, and the sultanate’s debt was spiraling toward 70 percent of GDP . Credit rating agencies had already downgraded Oman to junk status. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was forecasting that the economy would shrink by 10 percent —the worst contraction in the Gulf.
Six years ago this month, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq inherited a country on the brink. Oman’s beloved ruler of nearly half a century had just died, oil prices had cratered, the COVID-19 pandemic was about to shut down the world, and the sultanate’s debt was spiraling toward 70 percent of GDP. Credit rating agencies had already downgraded Oman to junk status. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was forecasting that the economy would shrink by 10 percent—the worst contraction in the Gulf.
It was, by any measure, the worst possible moment to assume power in a petrostate.
Yet now, as Oman marks the sixth anniversary of Sultan Haitham’s accession, the transformation is remarkable. Newly crowned monarchs in the Middle East have a tendency to celebrate by spending big on vanity projects—whet
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