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

The need for a law capping rent increases?

Rising rents cause concern

By Ali Al Badi

MUSCAT Rents in the Sultanate are on an upswing. The rise has exceeded 200 per cent in Muscat, 300 per cent in Sohar and 100 per cent in Salalah.

Experts say this is due to absence of activation of laws governing rent practices. They say there is a need for laws to govern the process of raising prices and resolve disputes between owners and tenants.

The phenomenon of high prices of real estate rents, especially by greedy landlords at the expense of tenants, is turning from bad to worse.

This has made some landlords to exploit the situation leading to situations where tenants are either forced to accept the new rent or search for a new house. And most of the time the tenants end up in accepting the new rent grudgingly.

According to the public, there is no way to stop the landlords from hiking rents.

HE Younis Bin Sabeel Al Balushi, Chairman of the Economic Committee in the Shura Council, said the committee has prepared a study on the subject of high rents and concluded that the main causes for the hike in rents is due to hike in the value of land, some of which rose to over 500 per cent in some locations especially in Al Khuwair.

The rise in prices of building materials such as cement, iron, cables, sanitary materials and also labour wages has led to a surge in prices.

He said laws that specify a certain annual percentage of rent hike would limit the rise in an arbitrary manner.

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Amid rising inflation due to various factors, this is the last thing tenants could hope for...lets hope the municipality does something...

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The hard facts on inflation in Oman

Annual inflation in Oman accelerated to 5.9% in June, the highest in at least two and a half years, as food costs and rents jumped, official data showed.

The consumer price index rose to 110.3 points compared with 104.2 points in the year-earlier, according to data published on the Ministry of National Economy website. Inflation was 4.3% in May.

The cost of food, beverages and tobacco, which account for around 30% of the index, rose 11.1% in June, compared with 9.1% in the previous month. (Link)

Cost of food went up 11.1% in one month. Add the 9.1% the previous month and that's a 20% increase in just May and June!