MUSCAT: The Omani Economic Association (OEA) held a virtual meeting on Saturday with the International Monetary Fund delegation within the framework of its annual visit which started on Monday and will continue till June 6.The visit of the IMF’s delegation comes within the framework of Article IV consultations, during which the delegation meets with.
There are 488 basic food commodities that are exempt from the 5 per cent tax
Muscat introduced value-added tax (VAT) on 16 April. The government announced plans to introduce the tax in October last year.
Oman joins other GCC countries that have already implemented VAT. The UAE and Saudi Arabia both introduced VAT on 1 January 2018, while Bahrain introduced the tax one year later on 1 January 2019.
The rate of VAT in Oman is 5 per cent. The government said that it has expanded the list of good that are subject to zero per cent tax from 93 to 488 basic food commodities.
Food commodities subject to zero value-added tax are vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, dates, spices, oils, fish, red meat and poultry, in addition to dairy, cheese, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, and juices without added sugar or sweeteners.
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The demise of Sultan Qaboos bin Said on January 10, 2020 marked the end of an era. Since the beginning of the “Blessed Renaissance” in 1970, which took place under his stewardship, Oman achieved unprecedented development, growing massively in every socio-economic metric.
For instance, total GDP increased from $256 million in 1970 to almost $77 billion in 2019. In the same timeframe, the sultanate went from having just 10 kilometres of paved roads, to 40,000km. The number of schools grew rapidly, from three to over 2,000.
But Oman’s march towards modernity has not only focused on modern metrics of development. A key part of Sultan Qaboos’s vision was the importance he placed on the preservation of the country’s centuries-old spectacular heritage and culture as well.