Occidental Oman donates 300 tablets to low income students
As part of its social responsibility to local communities, Occidental Oman recently provided tablets for low income students in Hamra Al Doroa, Al Dhahirah Governorate, and students in Al Wusta Governorate, where company concession areas are also located.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the project aims to support students in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
A total of 306 tablets were distributed to students from lowincome families — 25 in Hamra Al Doroa, 281 in Al Wusta — in order for the students to successfully integrate in schools operating through online distanced learning.
This initiative continues Occidental Oman’s collaboration with the Ministry of Education over the past years, as the company has sponsored yearly ceremonies to honour high achieving school students in Occidental Oman’s concession areas, as well as the 2019 project to install safety devices on school buses serving government schools across Muscat Governorate, and the company’s English Training Programme in concession areas.
“Occidental Oman is keen to support the advancement of local communities within our concession areas, particularly in support of school students, as it highlights the company’s long-term focus on education as a central pillar for investment and development in Oman’’, said Stephen Kelly, President and General Manager of Occidental Oman. “We are hopeful that the tablets provide vital e-learning channels for the students moving forward.”
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s central bank sharply devalued the country’s currency on Sunday, announcing a new regime to “unify” official and black-market exchange rates.
The change aims to help Sudan overcome a crippling economic crisis during a fragile political transition, and access international debt relief following an International Monetary Fund monitoring programme.
The central bank set the indicative rate at 375 pounds to the dollar from a previous official rate of 55 pounds.
Recently, the dollar traded at between 350 and 400 Sudanese pounds on the black market.
The central bank will set a daily indicative rate in a “flexible managed float”, a circular sent to banks said. Banks and exchange bureaus are required to trade within 5 per cent above or below that rate.
The circular also set a profit margin between buy and sell prices of no more than 0.5 per cent. Sunday’s move had been expected late last year under the IMF programme but was delayed by political instability.