Remittance time for expats in Oman as South Asian currencies falter

Muscat: Expatriates from South Asian countries who wish to send money back home are presently able to get very good rates for the Omani Rial, owing to its exchange values remaining high.

Indians in Oman who wish to swap Omani currency for Indian tender can get INR195 for every Rial they exchange, with exchange rates hovering around that value for the fourth day in a row.

According to currency converter site XE, one Rial was worth INR195.19 on 30 January, rising slightly from INR195.05 the previous day. The INR rate crossed the 195 mark for the first time this year on 27 January, rising to INR195.5 from the previous day value of INR194.7.

This is the fourth time in under six months that the Indian Rupee rate has touched the 195 mark. The last time it did so was in mid-December, when the Rial exchange value for the currency threatened to cross the INR200 mark.

Similarly, in October, the exchange rate rose to about INR196, before dipping to INR192 in the second week of November. The value of the Indian Rupee when compared to the Omani Rial also briefly crossed the INR195 mark on 20 July, but stayed there for only a day before dipping below that figure once again.

The exchange rate for the Omani Rial to the Pakistani Rupee has also steadily risen since May 2021, when one Rial was worth slightly less than 400 PKR.

Since then, however, the exchange rate has got better against the Rial, rising to PKR421 at the end of July, and PKR444 at the end of September. The exchange rate for the PKR briefly dipped to 440 in the middle of November, but continued its upward march to reach PKR456 on 14 November.

By the end of December 2021, the rate had climbed to PKR464 for an Omani Rial, before dropping slightly to PKR458 on 1 January. Its value rose slightly to 462.97 on 27 January, before dropping again to its previous rate.

Similarly, the exchange rate for the Omani Rial to the Bangladeshi Taka has also been rising, although it has been fluctuating since around August 2021.

The value of one Omani Rial stood at BDT220 on 30 January, roughly the same as it was a year ago, but it has fluctuated against the Bangladeshi currency between BDT220 and 224.

It has been a similar journey for the Sri Lankan Rupee, which stands at about SLR525 to the Omani Rial. In mid-April 2021, the value of the Sri Lankan Rupee was less than SLR500 for a Rial, but it has – like the other South Asian currencies – continued to steadily rise since then.