Inflation in Oman in October 2024 increased to 0.8% compared to a similar period last year. So, said official data coming out from the National Center for Statistics and Information. Prices continued to increase in every type of category, yet still rose inflationary.

The miscellaneous goods and services had the highest rate of annual growth at 4.8%. The other fields with high growth are food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.5%, healthcare at 3.2%, and culture and recreation at 0.8%. Restaurant and hotel prices grew by 0.6%, clothing and footwear by 0.5%, and household furniture and maintenance grew by 0.4%. Education increased by a mere 0.1%.

In contrast, the transport sector saw a -2.6% decline while other categories including housing, utilities, fuel, communication, and tobacco stayed flat throughout the period.

Increases in the food and beverages sector were witnessed in vegetables, which recorded a rise of 8.9%. Fruits followed with an 8 percent growth rate. In the dairy category, such as milk, cheese, and eggs, prices increased at 5.4%, whereas oils and fats increased by 3.8%. Meat was 2.8 percent up, and sugar and confectionery also went up by 2.4 percent. Processed foods went up by 1.8 percent, while bread and cereals by 0.8 percent, and non-alcoholic beverages by 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, fish and seafood declined by 1.2 percent, which brought a partial balance to the general upward movement in food prices.

The data from the central bank, excluding the inflation, indicated that Oman’s broad money supply increased at an astonishing 13.9 percent year-on-year growth rate to reach 24.7 billion Omani rials by the end of September, or $64.1 billion. Narrow money increased by 18.2 percent, and quasi-money increased by 12.3 percent, including all savings deposits and term deposits in Omani rials with certificates of deposit issued by commercial banks.

Despite money supply, cash held by the public had shrunk 6.7%, however demand deposits rose by 25.1%. Interest rates of Oman had risen during this time. The weighted average of deposit bearing interests in Omani rials have risen from 2.453% as of 2023-September to 2.679% for the period of 2024-September. Interests on loans in Omani rials had also risen during that period from 5.451% to 5.604%. These changes portray the trend in monetary policy while there are various changes taking place globally, especially by the Federal Reserve of the United States.