NCSI completes survey on family income, expenses

The National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on Sunday completed the fieldwork to survey the expenses and income of over 5,000 Omani and expatriate families.

NCSI appreciated the positive feedback received by the researchers from 5,660 families involved in the survey.

Yacoub bin Khamis al Zadjali, director of the Department of Social Surveys at NCSI, said the survey posed a number of challenges for researchers as it covered in detail the expenditure, consumption and income patterns of the families over a one-year period, including goods and services spent in certain months of the year more than others. 

Zadjali said the fieldwork included collecting data through the handheld devices, which were then reviewed by the observer and sent to NCSI for further verification and report preparation.

When the results of the survey will be available in the first quarter of 2020, it will be compared with the previous survey data to see trends of highs and lows in the income and expenditure pattern of the families.

From an economic perspective, the survey provides data on household consumption and also the necessary data to prepare the consumer price index, inflation rate in the Sultanate, which is beneficial to the process of preparing economic policies. The survey provides data on the living conditions of the population and helps determine their levels.