Yearbook 2017
Oman. The oil price crisis in the Middle East caused Oman
to have a budget deficit of 21% of GDP in 2016; for 2017,
12% was calculated. In the first months of the year alone,
it was forced to borrow $ 5 billion. Therefore, in May, the
Sultanate announced plans to sell sukuk, Islamic bonds,
worth $ 2 billion.
In January, Oman agreed with US outgoing President Barack
Obama to receive ten prisoners from Guant芍namo Bay prison in
Cuba. During his time as president, Obama did not succeed in
closing the notorious prison, but as a final measure he
tried to "hand out" prisoners.
According to
Countryaah.com, the world's oldest astrolabium was found in 2014 on a
shipwreck off the coast of Oman. The navigation tool, 17.5
centimeters in diameter and in bronze, is now dated to the
years between 1496 and 1500. It is believed to have belonged
to the ship Esmeralda, which was part of Vasco da Gama's
second expedition to India 1502-03.
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