Omani households spend more on food, transport: Survey

Muscat: Housing and food remain the two biggest areas of household spending in Oman, with Omani households recording considerably higher average monthly expenditure than non-Omani households, according to data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The data shows that the average monthly expenditure across all households stood at RO797.64, while Omani households spent an average of RO1,058.76 per month, compared with RO402.48 for non-Omani households.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels represented the largest spending category among all households, accounting for 36.4 per cent of total expenditure, at an average of RO304.23 per month.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages ranked as the second-largest expenditure category overall, averaging RO170.98 per month and accounting for 21.1 per cent of household spending.

Omani households spent substantially more on food and non-alcoholic beverages, averaging RO240.16 per month, equivalent to 22.7 per cent of their total expenditure. Among non-Omani households, the average stood at RO66.28, or 16.5 per cent.

Transport was another major area of expenditure, with Omani households spending an average of RO173.06 per month, compared with RO26.68 among non-Omani households. Transport accounted for 16.3 per cent of Omani household expenditure and 6.6 per cent of non-Omani spending.

The figures also show a marked difference in spending on furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance. Omani households spent an average of RO111.84 in this category, representing 10.6 per cent of their expenditure, compared with RO9.55 among non-Omani households.

Transfer payments also accounted for a notable share of Omani household expenditure, at RO114.93 per month, or 10.9 per cent, while the corresponding figure for non-Omani households was just RO1.88, or 0.5 per cent.

Spending on personal care and miscellaneous goods and services averaged RO55.97 among Omani households, compared with RO22.98 among non-Omani households.

Meanwhile, expenditure on recreation, sport and culture stood at RO29.48 for Omani households and RO22.33 for non-Omani households, although the latter category represented a larger share of non-Omani spending at 5.5 per cent, compared with 2.8 per cent among Omani households.

The figures indicate that while housing represents the dominant financial burden for non-Omani households, Omani household spending is distributed more broadly across food, transport, household needs, personal services and transfer payments.

The latest household expenditure findings form part of NCSI's efforts to provide detailed data on consumption patterns and living conditions and support economic policymaking and the measurement of inflation.