[ad_1]
Various jobs in insurance companies, shops and car dealerships, including finance, sales and administration positions, will be “limited to Omanis only,” according to the labor ministry.
Oman’s Ministry of Labor has said it will ban expatriates from certain private sector jobs, in a bid to create more jobs for its citizens amid an economic downturn.
Expats in the Gulf country make up about 40 percent of its population of 4.5 million.
“A number of jobs in the private sector will be nationalized,” the ministry announced on Twitter on Sunday.
He added that the work permits of foreigners exercising these professions will not be renewed after their expiration date.
Various jobs in insurance companies, shops and car dealerships, including finance, sales and administration positions, will be “limited to Omanis only,” the ministry said.
The work of driver, “whatever the vehicle”, will also be reserved for citizens, he added.
In April 2020, Oman ordered state-owned companies to speed up the process of replacing foreign staff with Omani nationals, especially in senior positions, in order to create more jobs for citizens.
The then finance ministry said a large number of expatriates still held managerial positions in state-owned companies.
Oman has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic as well as falling crude prices and has raised the possibility of assistance from its Gulf neighbors. The economy of the sultanate is estimated at decreased by 10 percent in 2020, according to projections by the International Monetary Fund, among the steepest in the Gulf amid the pandemic.
Against this backdrop, GCC member states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – have sought to diversify their economies and integrate millions of new graduates into their workforce.
All have adopted legislation giving preference to nationals over foreigners in the public and private sectors.
More than 25 million foreigners live in the Gulf, constituting the majority of the populations of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
[ad_2]