More than 635,000 new vehicles registered in Oman in five years

Muscat: Economic growth in the Sultanate in the past five years has led to the recovery of the purchase and sale of the automobile sector.
Statistics prepared by Oman News Agency (ONA) indicated that the total number of new vehicles that have been registered for the first time during the past five years stood at more than 635,000. Private cars accounted for 74.1 per cent of the total.
The Sultanate witnessed during the past five years good economic growth. The new jobs that have been created along with the salary increases led to improved living standards, which led to an increase in demand for the acquisition of new cars. The economic growth has led to an increase in the number of new commercial vehicles and the recovery of the car-renting, taxis and driving school sectors.
The new commercial vehicles that have been registered in the last five years accounted for 17.9 per cent of the total number of new vehicles, with 114,000 vehicles, rental cars occupied the third place with 23,000 cars, with 3.6 per cent and government vehicles came in fourth place with 13,000 vehicles, representing 2 per cent of the total number of vehicles, followed by taxis that have been registered for the first time during the past five years with seven thousand cars, and driving school cars 964 cars.
2014 saw the highest number of registered new vehicles, with more than 143,000 vehicles. The last year saw the lowest number at 109,000 vehicles, despite marketing efforts and presentations made by the car agencies and showrooms and the efforts by banks and finance companies.
The rise in the number of private cars that have been registered for the first time in 2014, stood at 111,000 coincided with the unification of grades and salaries for the civil sector employees, put into action in January 2014, which led to higher levels of salaries in the public sector.
The economic recovery in the Sultanate during the past five years had contributed to the improvement in salary levels in the private sector. As from the first of July 2013, the minimum salary in the private sector rose to OMR325 instead of OMR200 a month, which reflected positively on the purchasing power and had also contributed to the recovery of many economic sectors.