author - oman observer

What does it really mean when oil prices rise? What are we supposed to understand when inflation climbs and the cost of living quietly becomes heavier for ordinary people? And in the middle of all...

Here is an important question that many customers rarely ask. Did your bank ever explain to you about the Bank Deposit Insurance Scheme (BDIS)? As a customer or a member of the public, how much do you...

“I graduated in 2023 and I am still looking for a job. Life is becoming harder every day.”The young graduate sitting across from me in a small coffee shop did not speak with anger. His words...

Sit quietly in a comfortable chair. Have your cup of coffee like a great leader, like a CEO, like a prime minister, like a footballer, like an ordinary man, like an ordinary woman, like a young...

“My phone needs to be updated; it keeps getting stuck,” I said to my son one evening, expecting sympathy rather than advice. He looked at the screen for a moment and replied calmly, “Father,...

“My phone needs to be updated; it keeps getting stuck,” I said to my son one evening, expecting sympathy rather than advice. He looked at the screen for a moment and replied calmly, “Father,...

Another new course begins this semester — Auditing and Assurance — one of the subjects closest to my professional journey in banking, risk control, and governance. Teaching this course at...

The hall in Davos was calm, almost ceremonial. Two armchairs faced each other on a modestly elevated stage, upholstered in muted tones — nothing extravagant, nothing accidental. A small round table...

Is making lending decisions easy for bankers? On the surface, lending appears to be a structured, formula-driven process supported by credit policies, risk models and regulatory guidelines. Yet, in...

“See, here is the new note of one rial,” my sister said, extending her hand with a faint smile of surprise.I paused. My ten fingers froze mid-air above the keyboard of my aging Huawei laptop. I...

Whenever I sit down to write about banks and bankers, one uncomfortable question returns with force: are bankers guardians of the global economy, or its most sophisticated saboteurs? History, when...

In an interconnected global economy, no individual — whether a small entrepreneur, a salaried employee, or a policymaker — can remain indifferent to the political direction of the United States....

Money and politics are not enemies of development. In theory, they are among the most powerful tools a nation can possess. Money, when mobilised wisely, fuels growth, innovation and welfare. Politics,...

Let me begin with a scene that still weighs on me. A man sat beside me in Maktab Sanad, just a few steps away from the courthouse — barely twenty metres from where justice is meant to be delivered....

Being closely involved with economic subjects — both in practice and in teaching — my interest in how economies develop and how they collapse has grown steadily over the years. Economics is not an...

One has to be extremely careful with facts, sources, and interpretations when writing about towering historical figures. Intellectual carelessness does not merely distort history; it diminishes the...

During a short break in the 'Design Thinking' course I was conducting for bankers at the College of Banking and Financial Studies, I wandered into the college library — as I often do...

Around 1,200 pages of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged is not something a busy person can digest in three to seven days, especially someone balancing work, teaching, family, and writing. But reading...

Banking is often described as the bloodstream of the economy, a system in which money flows quietly and continuously, moving from hand to hand, account to account, and sector to sector. Banks stand at...

A fundamental question that every society must confront is this; where do different economic systems ultimately lead us—toward collective well-being or toward engineered inequality and silent...