MUSCAT: A recruitment ban imposed on expatriates certain job sectors Oman has been extended by the Ministry of Manpower, a tweet by the ministry reveals.

According to the ministry, recrutiment of non-Omanis has been banned in the fields affected include information technology, accounting, finance, marketing, sales, administration and Human Resources, insurance, information and media, some medical and airport professions, and engineering.

In another tweet, the ministry added that establishments registered with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada) are exempted from the ban.

However, the decision will not affect the existing visa-holders in these professions, the statement added.

In fact, the ban instituted by the ministry follows up on the initial announcement that was made at the end of January 2018, where 87 job sectors were reserved for only Omanis, and then renewed midway through last year.

According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information, of the 2,041,190 workers in the private sector, only 250,717 are Omanis, with the vast majority – 87.72 per cent – being expatriates.

More than 60,000 Omanis have been given jobs in private sector companies, as part of the Omanisation policy in the last one year.