People voice support for Oman’s austerity measures

Muscat: The tightening of purse strings by Oman has ruffled many feathers, but those who’ve seen the Sultanate pulling through difficult times say it is the right time to pay back.
“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Guided by the able vision and wisdom of our beloved His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Oman will definitely emerge from the difficult situation in no time,” said the President of the Bangladesh Social club, Mohammed Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, who has been in Oman for the last 38 years.
Dinesh Dawada, managing director, of the Al ATefaq Trading Company LLC, who supplies more than 2000 items to hypermarkets and supermarkets, said that more than Indian, I am an Omani as I have been living in the Sultanate for more than 39 years.
“Good times, bad times are all part of life. We firmly stand together for the country that has given us so much and has been our home for such a long time,” he said.
Bhuiyan also recounted that the country had faced a similar situation about 11 years back. “Good times, bad times; they roll in arms. Can't escape the inevitable, but the dark will subside, and a new dawn will emerge as it happened 11 years back,” he said.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, Parameswaran Chandrasekr, group general manager with Jawad Sultan Group LLC, said there was no need to be unduly alarmed by what he described as an “austerity measure.”
“We have to understand that Oman has done a lot for us, both locals and expats...and if the government takes some steps which may appear to be not very popular, but us in the larger interest, I think all of us should pool together and try to help the government in its initiative to come out of this particular situation,” he said.
He added that the government had fantastic plans regarding the exploration of non-oil sectors.
“When the macro-economic condition is simply beyond your control, obviously you have to bring in measures which help getting rid of the problems that we face,” he said.
Sixty-five-year old Omani, Juma Al Hassan said it is time to give back a little bit to the country that has blessed us all with so much. “There can’t be any such differentiation between an Omani and expatriates here,” he said.
He also said: “We absolutely support the decisions made by the government to tackle the situation. It will be over soon, and things will return to normalcy.”
Expressing his unconditional love, another expatriate, M Ghosh, said there are few countries in the world, which don’t impose taxes. “But there is nothing here, people should feel positive here,” he added.