Freeing Ouselves of Oil

Oman’s growth and development has been fueled by Oil revenues. The nature of Oil is that it is finite, and everyone knows that a day will come when it must run out. Although no one agrees on how long it will be before oil in Oman becomes a thing of the past, the country realizes that it must diversify its source of revenue.
As a citizen I was excited to see a July article by Oman Economic Review (OER), stating that non-oil revenues have increased by 46.3% from 2005 to 2006. Initially, I thought that this was an anomaly but the article clearly explains that non-oil exports have been increasing at around 30% during the previous 3 years.
A breakdown of exports raises another concern. Oman has decreased its dependence on Oil, however it remains a resource based economy. The principal portion of non-oil revenues is in the form of minerals, another finite resource. Additionally, the 46.3% increase in exports is due to the 327% increase in mineral exports. All while, textiles and food/Agriculture experienced a decline.
The diversification efforts are welcomed, and I’m excited to see new sources of revenue. Yet I ask; do we remain depended on the resources of the land? I look forward to the day we begin to export knowledge, services and man made products.