Mubasher: The population of expats in Oman declined in 2019 to its lowest since July 2015, Arab News said.
The country continued to step up its Omanisation plans, which includes an expat visa ban, according to the news portal.
On 25 February 2019, expat numbers in Oman totalled 2.04 million, accounting for 43.7% of the country’s population, according to the National Center for Statistics and Information, Arab News added.
On a year-on-year basis, expats in Oman as registered on 25 February 2019 were 1.4% lower from the same period in 2018.
“The decrease comes as Oman continues its efforts to nationalise its workforce, hiring more Omanis in both private and public sector jobs than foreign nationals,” Arab News reported.
About 64,386 Omanis were employed in private sector companies and establishments and 4,125 more in government agencies over the last year after Oman implemented a visa ban in the end of January 2018.
“Gulf countries have been historically dependent on expatriate workers to power their economies; with a 2013 study indicating as much as 71% of Oman’s labour force are non-nationals. In Qatar, expatriate workforce was as high as 95% while in the UAE it was 94%; 83% in Kuwait; 64% in Bahrain and 49% in Saudi Arabia,” Arab News added.
