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This Week’s Economic Bulletin:
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1/ Sultanate’s Telecommunications Services / Statistic
Muscat, July 4 (ONA)--- The statistical bulletin issued by the Ministry of National Economy has shown that subscribers of the fixed phone in the Sultanate's various regions and governorates amounted to 262741 until the end of April 2008, compared to 261207 in 2007 , a growth by 0.6%.
The number of fixed telephone lines subscribers (post paid) in the Sultanate amounted to 217904 , as at the end of April 2008, , compared to 219128 by the end of 2007. The number of “Sahl” subscribers amounted to 41482 by the end of April 2008 compared to 42079 by the end of 2007. The number of public phones in the different parts of the Sultanate amounted to 6,814 compared to 6,858 in the 2007. The number of active wireless lines amounted to 3355 as of the end of April 2008.
The number of fixed telephone lines subscribers in the Muscat governorate stood at 130816 as at the end of April 2008, followed by the Al-Batinah region 43,815 , the Al-Dakhiliyah region 25,690, the Al-Sharqiyah region 22,427, the Dhofar Governorate 20,598, the Al-Dhahirah region 15,814, the Musandam Governorate 3263 and the Al-Wusta region 318.
The number of mobile service, provided by Oman Mobile and Omani-Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras), subscribers stood at 2,779,098 by the end of April 2008 compared to 2,500,000 by the end of 2007, a 11.2% increase.
The number of billed mobile telephone subscribers by the end of April 2008 amounted to 296,988 compared to 293,622 as of the end of 2007, a growth by 1.1% .
The number of Pre-paid mobile service has shown remarkable increase as the number of subscribers, by the end of April 2008 amounted to 2,482,110 compared to 2,206,378 as of the end of 2007 , a growth by 12.5%.
The bulletin added that the number of internet service subscribers rose by 14.4% as at the end of April 2008 to reach 116,582 , compared to 101,890 as of the end of 2007 .
. The number of internal phone service subscribers stood at 52831 . The number of Power Net subscribers stood at 24936 and the number of leased internet lines amounted to 512. The number of other internet services amounted to 1103. The number of internet pre paid service amounted to 37,200.
The number of subscribers reached 3,286 for auto callas of the end of April 2008 at the leased circuit subscribers.
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2/ CBO’s Certificates of Deposit Tender Results
Muscat, July 4 (ONA)--- The Central Bank of Oman this week has issued certificates of deposits at longer terms including 91 and 182 days alongside with 28 day certificates of deposit.
Certificates of deposit (issue No.522) tender was held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) this week. The total amount allotted for issue No. 522 was RO.208,5 million.
A bulletin issued by the CBO stated that the average accepted interest rate of these certificates was 0.76% while the maximum accepted interest rate was 0.80%. The tenor of these certificates is 28 days so their maturity date is on July 30th, 2008.
Certificates of deposit (issue No. 523) tender was also held at CBO. The total amount allotted for issue No. 523 was RO.25.5 million.
The bulletin stated that the average accepted interest rate of these certificates was 1.31% while the maximum accepted interest rate was 1.35%. The tenor of these certificates is 91 days so their maturity date is on October 1st, 2008.
Certificates of deposit (issue No. 524) tender was also held at (CBO). The total amount allotted for issue No. 524 was RO.22 million.
The average interest rate of these certificates was 1.75% while the maximum accepted interest rate was 1.80%. The tenor of these certificates is 182 days so their maturity date is on December 31st 2008.
The certificates of deposit issued to licensed banks by the CBO as a monetary policy instrument aimed at absorbing excess liquidity at the banking sector in particular and maintaining stability of the interest rate and the money market in general. It is noteworthy that the Repo rate from July 2nd till 7th 2008 is 3.48%.
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3/ Loaded and Unloaded Cargo at Ports
Muscat, July 4 (ONA)---The quantity of cargo unloaded and loaded at Sultan Qaboos and Salalah ports stood at 3412 k tonnes as of the end of April 2008 against 2296.1 k tonnes during the corresponding period in 2007, constituting a 48.6% rise.
A bulletin released by the Ministry of National Economy attributed the overall increase in the quantities of goods handled at the two ports to the rise in loaded and unloaded goods at Sultan Qaboos Port as of the end of April 2008 by 48.2% to 2054.9 k tonnes, against 1386.9 k tonnes during the corresponding period in 2007.
Goods handled at Salalah port rose in terms of quantity by 49.3% by the end of April 2008 to 1357.1 k tonnes against 909.2 k tonnes during the corresponding period in 2007.
Foodstuff items, building and construction materials and vehicles were among the most important cargo handled at the two ports.
The bulletin indicated that a total of 1070 ships called at the two ports by the end of April 2008, constituting a 25.9% % rise against 850 vessels during the corresponding period in 2007.
The number of vessels which anchored at Sultan Qaboos Port rose by 22.5% to 774 ships by the end of April 2008, against 632 ships during the corresponding period in 2007. The number of vessels anchored at Salalah port rose by 35.8% to 296 ships, against 218 ships during the corresponding period in 2007.
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4/ Salalah hosts the commercial arbitration forum
Salalah, July 4 (ONA)--- The GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre in collaboration with OCCI branch in Dhofar governorate will organize Salalah 13th Forum on “electronic crimes and protection of intellectual property” during the period from August 17th to 20th.
The programme includes a number of lectures , practical examples in the field of e-crimes.
The programme will also highlight the different intellectual property rights, the international and regional trends to protect intellectual property.
The forum aims at highlighting the value of information, information systems, their minas, basic of information security in light of modern developments, identifying sources of risks for information, computer system and networks. It also aims at improving participant’s skills be advising them of the proper means that should be followed while investigating e-crimes.
The organization of the forum is part of the awareness and training programme organized by the GCC arbitration centre regularly to develop the capabilities of arbitrators in different fields.
A number of specialists, consultants and legal advisors from public and private GCC organizations will take part at the forum.
It is worth mentioning that the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre annually organizes a number of summer training courses on commercial arbitration in Salalah, during Khareef season.
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