Monday, November 26, 2007

Does this sound promising?

Council of Ministers reviews increase in prices of commodities

MUSCAT — In the light of the great attention given by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in ensuring the welfare of all the citizens and in a bid to cope with the current global economic developments and their direct impact on the prices of some commodities in the local market, the Council of Ministers yesterday held a meeting to study the different aspects of these phenomena. The council discussed the possibility of identifying some practical solutions that could alleviate the impact of such phenomena on citizens and expatriates. The Council of Ministers also reviewed the external and internal causes for the price rise in some commodities and how to deal with them in the near future, taking into consideration the interest of the consumers, traders and external forces.

While the government follows with concern the global economic changes, it assesses the positive and negative impact of such economic changes. The cooperation of the citizens with the government in understanding the nature of such developments is an important step towards handling and alleviating the impact of such changes. In this connection, the Council of Ministers has decided to set up a ministerial committee to be headed by the minister of national economy and deputy chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council with the minister of fisheries, the minister of commerce and industry, the minister of agriculture and chairman of OCCI as members to alleviate the impact of these phenomena.

- ONA

3 comments:

Twister said...

Unless the OMR is revalued, inflation will stay...The USD has been hitting record lows every other day...and it's time the OMR was revalued to reflect the true value rather than let the USD drag it down as well...

Undercover Dragon said...

Most of this statement is typical meaningless Omani Government waffle, designed to make people think that something is being done without actually saying anything.

You are spot on twister - the only meaningful things they can do are:
- revalue the currency [as most things people buy on a day to day basis are imported]
- choose to use Government money to subsidise some basics [eg: flour, rice, cooking oil] and as they currently do for petrol and diesel
- index peoples salaries to the inflation and accept the inflation
- reduce the money they are pumping into the economy [Sohar, Oil & Gas investments, building, infrastructure projects, The Wave et al...]

Of these options, the first is clearly the most palatable. It should happen very soon.

Twister said...

For some reason, GCC countries seem oblivious to the idea of currency revaluation...and the ones speaking against it are the ones suffering the most due to inflation...

the US economy is in damage-control mode at the moment...while middle eastern economies are growing...this is obviously a case of economic policies going out of step...this calls for a revaluation of the OMR at the least...

In february, the AUD was at 303 baisas...and not it's at 339...same with other major currencies (EUR/GBP etc)...unless oman imports only in USD (which is not the case I assume), the weakening USD will continue to cause "imported inflation"...