MUSCAT: Over 65,000 expatriates have left Oman between May 2018 and May 2019 after the government has promulgated policies on Omanisation.
The country’s Omanisation policy was given further momentum after a visa ban on expat hiring was imposed over 87 job roles on January 28, 2018 for an initial six months. That was then extended in July 2018 and again in February 2019. The Ministry of Manpower had made plans to provide 25,000 jobs to Omani jobseekers and that target was met within the first six months of the ban. As of the end of 2018, Oman’s private sector had provided more than 40,000 jobs to local jobseekers with a further 27,000 Omanis hired in the private sector between January and May 2019.
According to data from the National Centre for Stnatistics and Information (NCSI), the total number of expatriates living in Oman decreased by 65,397 between May 2018 and May 2019, dropping to just 2,017,432.
Oman’s expatriate workforce has also fallen, from 1,854,880 people in May 2018 to 1,787,447 this year.
During the same period, the number of Omanis increased to 2,649,857 from 2,575,132, pointing to a population increase of 74,725 locals.
The departure of many expatriates from Oman in the last twelve months has seen a drop in rental prices, and renters say that while there is an adequate supply of homes, the demand from tenants is not as high as it used to be.
Hassan Al Ruqeishi, Head of the Real Estate Development Committee at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently said: “There has been a significant drop in rental prices both in and around Muscat because of the high supply and low demand.”
(Agencies)
Comment