The Ministry of Finance has revealed that 22,000 employees are beneficiaries of the noble directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, may God protect him, regarding the promotion of Omani employees under the civil service system and other civil systems based on seniority since 2012, starting from January 2023.
These noble directives came in light of His Majesty’s diligent follow-up on institutional and individual performance and the efficiency of delivering government services.
During the Cabinet meeting held last Thursday under the chairmanship of His Majesty the Sultan in Salalah, royal orders were issued to launch the financial sustainability phase and initiate the “National Program for Financial Sustainability and Development of the Financial Sector,” which will commence its operations in early 2023 to enable economic growth, increase investments, and ensure the continuity of development programs. In the context of His Majesty’s ongoing follow-up on financial and economic developments, he praised the positive progress in the financial performance of the Sultanate and expressed his satisfaction with the tangible results achieved by the National Program for Financial Balance.
In order to preserve the economic and social stability in the Sultanate of Oman, His Majesty also instructed the continued freeze of fuel prices until the end of next year, 2023. The fuel prices to be maintained are as follows: Octane 95 gasoline will be capped at 0.239 Omani rials per liter, Octane 91 gasoline will be capped at 0.229 Omani rials per liter, and diesel will be capped at 0.258 Omani rials per liter.
The directives also included exempting employees and retired individuals who are borrowers from the Armed Forces and Royal Guard Housing Loans Fund and have an income of less than 450 Omani rials from the remaining amounts owed by them, similar to the exemption provided to citizens benefiting from the housing loans program offered by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning had previously announced the total number of beneficiaries of the noble exemption from housing loans during the period of 2021-2022, which amounted to 2,260 cases with a value of approximately 41.8 million Omani rials. The exemption included 731 cases in 2021 for individuals with a total income of less than 350 Omani rials, totaling around 13.5 million rials, and 1,529 cases in 2022 for individuals with a total income of less than 450 Omani rials, totaling around 28.3 million Omani rials.
Furthermore, the noble directives extended the provision of general job security benefits to terminated services of Omani citizens working within the Sultanate of Oman until the end of June of the coming year, 2023.
Statistics show that the number of beneficiaries of the job security benefit reached 11,539 by the end of May, distributed among 8,468 male citizens and 3,071 female citizens, with an average age of 34 years. The average value of the benefit amounted to approximately 292 Omani rials.
Moreover, the Council of Ministers reviewed the results of the second phase of the Government Services Pricing Guide project, which aims to review government service fees to support economic sectors, enhance the competitiveness of the national economy, and facilitate government procedures. It approved the reduction, cancellation, and merger of 288 fees as part of the results of the review in the second phase in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion, the Supreme Judicial Council (Notary Public), the Civil Defense and Ambulance Authority, the Municipalities Sector, and the Environment Authority.
The total number of reduced, canceled, and merged fees since the implementation of the Government Services Pricing Guide reached 845. In the first phase, there were a total of 557 fees,.