Companies in Oman should stick to work in authorised sectors only: Ministry of Commerce

Muscat: Companies that operate outside the sectors they’ve been set up to work in will be penalised in accordance with the country’s laws and could possibly be shut down, Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has said.

The news comes even as Oman’s new foreign investment law aims to bring more investors from abroad into the country. The Ministry, however, wants to ensure that companies fulfil the purposes for which they have been set up.

A statement from the Ministry said, “The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has asked businessmen and investors to make their commercial establishments remain committed to the objectives for which they were actually set up, by taking measures of cancellation through legal procedures. They also need to take the measures of dissolution and liquidation for companies that have ended its commercial activities as per the rules.”

In part due to the Ministry encouraging more businesses to set up operations in Oman, 16 new closed Omani joint stock companies were given licenses between January and December 2019 by the Department of Audit and Control of Commercial Establishments. Their total capital investment was OMR20.36 million.

Khalid Bin Khamis Al Masrouri, Director of the Department of Audit and Control of Commercial Establishments of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “The number of closed Omani joint stock companies increased from 380 with a capital of OMR8.412 billion in the end of December 2018, to 396 with a capital amounting to OMR8.432 billion at the end of December 2019. “By December 2019, the number of companies subject to the foreign investment law has reached about 21,581 with capital amounting to OMR66 billion,” he added. “Similarly, the number of companies subject to the investment law and registered during 2019 reached about 2,721 with capital amounting to OMR3.52 billion.”
 

Al Masrouri went on to say, “The foreign capital investment law has helped in making the investment environment attractive for investors. It has made the situation more appropriate for investment, particularly at a time where there is competition among the countries of the world. For this, incentives, privileges and guarantees are offered to make foreign investments more stable in the Sultanate.
Such incentives and privileges encourage foreign investments in the country. It can have a positive effect on the national economy.”