Oman’s government is in no hurry to follow its peers across the Middle East who kicked off the year by offering new bonds at higher yields. “We aren’t desperate to go early,” said Nasser al-Jashmi, the undersecretary at Oman’s Ministry of Finance. “Market conditions aren’t appropriate right now and we have flexibility within our funding plan,” he added. The Gulf nation, whose budget deficit is among the largest of all the sovereigns tracked by Fitch Ratings, is planning to raise OMR2.4bn (USD6.2bn) internationally and at home this year to help fund most of its fiscal shortfall. It borrowed USD8bn abroad in 2018, al-Jashmi said. The yield on Oman’s bonds due 2028 has steadied near 7.2% after peaking at the start of 2019 at over 7.6%, the highest since the securities were sold a year earlier.