Oman market: how rising prices are hitting our pockets

Rising food and fuel prices, raised rents and a hike in household bills are testing the nerves of Omanis and expats alike. Alvin Thomas examines why balancing the books has become a burden for the Sultanate’s hard-working majority, and why more needs to be done to address the problem.

Picture this scenario: you have dressed up in your favourite suit for work, grabbed the keys to your prized car that you worked hard to buy, and begin your journey to work.

Of course, on the way you must pick up your breakfast from the convenience store at the petrol station.

While there, you decide to top-up your tank with some high-grade M95 petrol – you know, the kind that your dealer told you that your “engine deserves”.

All goes as planned: you fill up with 50 litres of fuel, and you hand the tired-looking fuel station attendant your bank card.

You expect the cost of your purchase to be RO9.300 – the amount you just paid a few weeks ago to fill the tank to the brim. However, the SMS (text message) you receive on your phone says a different story. It reads: “Card of a/c 03XXXXX011 used for RO10.250 at Oman Oil” – which is a whole RO1.050 more than what you paid for fuel last time.

You think it is a mistake but then carefully read the prices on the Oman Oil banner outside the station. It clearly states: M91 – 186 baisas per litre, M95 – 205 baisas per litre and Diesel – 211 baisas per litre.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the price of fuel, today. And by the looks of things, the recently-revealed prices are here to stay.

Unhappy with the surprise increase, scores of residents have taken to the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter to express their frustrations.

“Atrocious,” writes Dr Kevin Sebastien on Twitter.

“Remember when fuel was cheaper than water?” he then asks.

Before the oil crisis of 2015, the price of fuel was pegged at 120 baisas per litre for M95 and 114 baisas per litre for M91 – both slightly lower than the price of a litre of mineral water from the shelves.

Last year, Oman removed its fuel subsidies that led to fuel prices rising by more than 50 per cent. As a result of that, Oman cut its fuel subsidy bill by more than half a billion riyals.

Meanwhile, Omani Ahmed Saleh al Bulushi, a student in Oman, questions the Ministry of Oil and Gas’ move to raise the rates beyond 200 baisas per litre of M95 fuel, through his post on Facebook.

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