Expect lot of offers

“Sales of phones are expected to increase in December if VAT is implemented in January. We will start preparing once the directive is out by the Ministry. Consumers can expect lot of offers by December instead of discounted rates from phone dealers,” an official from a major phone dealer in Oman said.

Auto sector

According to an official of a major car dealer in Oman, the automotive sector is set to see unprecedented sales towards the end of the year

“For the first time, we expect sales to increase towards the yearend, while, normally, this is the time for lowest levels in sales. We have started to plan campaigns at that time but as long as the government does not specify the framework, we can’t have anything concrete,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

Recently, Bahrain signed the GCC-wide VAT framework. With that, all six members of the cooperation council have now agreed to a unified law defining implementation methodology. However, according to the framework, countries can implement the tax according to their own timeframe as long as it is within two years of the first country implementing VAT.

Analysts believe that all six countries will implement it by the end of 2018, keeping in mind soaring fiscal deficits.