Abstract

The Omani economy frequently moves in unison with changing oil prices because it is highly dependent on this commodity. Given this relationship, it is reasonable to theorize that the Omani narrow money supply (M1) is also sensitive to oil price fluctuations. This study examines the linkages between oil price changes and the M1 money supply in Oman for the period 1980 to 2016 and analyzes the nature of discovered relationships. An autoregressive distributed lag model is used to test the relationship between Omani oil price fluctuations and the money supply over time from 37 annual observations. This study finds that changes in oil prices and the M1 money supply are strongly correlated in the long run, which has implications for policymakers looking to diversify the Omani economy.