The Middle East

The motor segment dominates general insurance in the Omani market. Alpen Capital’s 2011 “GCC Insurance Report” showed 62% of all insurance business activity in the sultanate going to motor coverage. Faced with the dominance of the motor segment in the sector, the industry regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), has recently moved to...

A number of factors are shaping Oman’s developing retail market. While competition has increased as more companies have set up retail outlets in the sultanate, salaries have also grown, boosting consumer spending as a consequence. Other, less obvious factors are influencing the market including increased infrastructure spending, more...

Oman’s retail market is largely split between shopping malls and relatively small roadside shops or ground floor retail units. While shopping malls are relative newcomers, the segment is growing quickly both within the capital area and in other, less-populated cities. The two largest shopping malls in Oman are Muscat City Centre and the recently...

As Oman’s economy and population continue to grow, developers are interested in more than simply increasing supply quickly. Indeed, a range of factors must be considered as environmental and energy concerns are becoming more important.

With power demands continuing to rise in Oman, a range of significant efforts are under way to increase generation capacity. Providing more power to a greater number of people, however, requires more than simply building and expanding power plants; electric-power transmission upgrades are also needed. This objective is the focus of a number of...

While Oman’s property market remained relatively slow in 2011, the sector is showing signs of steady growth. Factors influencing the favourable trend include improved financing for housing as well as general economic growth across the sultanate. Widespread salary increases in 2011 were greatly considered an additional element behind the...