Muscat: A fine of 1,000 Omani rials will be slapped on vendors found to be hiking prices of any commodity without the permission of the Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP).
The fine will be doubled for repeat violations, the PACP added.
Speaking to Gulf News, an official at PACP said the increased fines aim to ensure better consumer protection. The penalty was previously 800 Omani rials.
Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed has also postponed a PACP decision to lift the cap on prices of 23 food items set in 2014 following a Majlis Al Shura proposal.
The decision to lift the price cap on a list of food items was taken earlier after a study conducted by the Oman Chamber for Commerce and Industry indicated that restricting prices of certain goods would have negative effects on the local market.
Sultan Qaboos approved a new consumer protection law recently with the aim of boosting consumer rights and ensuring fair compensation.
The new law includes heftier penalties including fines of up to 60,000 rials and jail time of up to 10 years.
PACP chairman Saeed Al Ka’ani said the PACP is keeping a close watch on all vendors to ensure there are no unjustified price increases on food items and other commodities.
The inflation rate in Oman increased by 0.18 per cent in June 2015, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Meanwhile, the country is looking at economic growth at a rate of 4.7 per cent amid the plunge in oil prices, an official at the Central Bank of Oman told Gulf News.
The official attributed the forecast to the promising growth of the non-oil sector as well as government spending, which is expected to 5.5 per cent growth.
