Oman government has released a five-year plan to halve the economy's dependence on the oil industry as low crude prices pressure government finances. The 2016-20 plan, set out in a statement by the Supreme Council for Planning late on Saturday, said over 500 programmes and policies would seek to diversify the Omani economy into sectors such as manufacturing, mining, transport and tourism. The plan aims to cut the oil industry's contribution to gross domestic product to 22% from 44%; the contribution of natural gas would drop to 2.4% from 3.6%. Average annual investments would total around 28% of gross domestic product; cumulative investment over the five years is expected to be OMR41 billion (USD106 billion), against OMR38 billion envisaged in the previous five-year plan. The new plan is to make heavy use of public-private partnerships, with 52% of total investment to come from the private sector against 42% in the last plan. The plan assumes an average oil price of USD45 a barrel for 2016, USD55 for 2017 and 2018, and USD60 for 2019 and 2020, while Oman's average oil production is assumed to remain flat at 990,000 barrels per day. The figures assume that Oman would continue running a state budget deficit throughout the plan. (Reuters)