Oman: Interest on govt loans for 2021, licence fees for 3 years waived

Published 02 Jan,2021 via Muscat Daily - On the orders of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, the Ministry of Finance has approved a package of facilities and incentives for citizens and the private sector for the year 2021.

The incentives include loans from Oman Housing Bank, with the annual sum earmarked for annual borrowing during 2021 to be increased from RO60mn to RO100mn.

‘This will help increase the number of loan applications from 1,350 to about 2,250 for the year 2021 and will help reduce the waiting period for citizens to obtain housing loans,’ a statement from the Ministry of Finance said.

Also, as part of the incentives, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning will help prepare for the distribution of 23,000 land plots in different governorates and wilayats of the sultanate.

In another major incentive, borrowers from Oman Development Bank and the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises will be exempted from loan interests for one year (2021).

As many as 32,104 establishments and firms will get a total sum waiver worth RO10,930,432. It is a measure aimed to alleviate the financial burden of small and medium enterprises and firms that take loans from Oman Development Bank and the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (loans of Al Raffd Fund and Sanad), particularly following the implementation of the electricity and water subsidy.

Also, starting January 1, 2021, small and medium enterprises owned by Omanis will be exempted from all licence fees for the first three years of incorporation.

The Ministry of Finance also reduced the rental contract fee from five to three per cent and lease contract fees, too, from five to three per cent.

© Apex Press and Publishing. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info)

DISCLAIMER: This content is provided to us “as is” and unedited by an external third party provider. We cannot attest to or guarantee the accuracy of information provided in this article from the external third party provider. We do not endorse any views or opinions included in this article.