Muscat: For the first time since 2013, Oman oil prices reached $110.81 per barrel on 2 March, an increase of $9.96 from a day earlier when it traded at $100.85.
The average price of Oman oil (March delivery 2022) has stabilised at $83.62, $10.48 higher than February delivery this year.
While speaking exclusively to the Times of Oman, Mohammad Al Wardi, an academic and economic analyst, said, “The price of Oman’s oil that was recorded today has not been witnessed by the Sultanate since 2013. The prices continue to skyrocket to reach 2013 levels due to the Russian-Ukrainian war. If oil prices continue to rise in this way, the Sultanate of Oman will achieve large financial surpluses.”
Dr. Al Wardi also said there were quite some negatives too to this phenomenon, including inflationary pressures due to the rise in prices of industrial raw materials exported by Russia such as aluminium, nickel, zinc and others.
The price of wheat will increase because Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of wheat in the world. While increasing inflationary pressures, the spiralling prices of the commodities will hit adversely the economic recovery efforts in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
While predicting that oil prices will continue to rise in the coming years due to the repercussions of the sanctions against Russia, Dr. Wardi said the war will also bring about fundamental changes at political and economic level on the world stage.
There was every likelihood for this scenario as the Ukrainian war was likely to continue in the coming weeks, as per data trickling in presently.
Al Wardi said the prices of wheat has reached a high that the world has not witnessed since 2008 because Russia is at the third place, exporting 85m tons in 2020, among the exporters of wheat, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Similarly Ukraine is at the eighth place with more than 24 million tons of exports.
The war will see the prices of food items head northward, affecting the consumer adversely.
Meanwhile, specialists in the Sultanate confirmed that basic commodities are available and adequate for a period exceeding 6 months; this came to the fore at a joint meeting of competent authorities during which the participants discussed priority issues related to food security and the availability of basic commodities.
They also reviewed the mechanisms to ensure price stability and availability of foodstuff and other commodities in all the markets in the Sultanate of Oman.
Specialists confirm that the food reserves in the Sultanate has not been hit by any changes in supply chains during the current period, and that basic commodities are available and sufficient for a period of over 6 months.
