The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), represented by the Directorate General of Industry, reported that the percentage of businesses surveyed in the annual industrial survey of medium and large industrial establishments for 2017 amounted to 45 per cent, targeting 963 industrial establishments.

The annual industrial survey aims at providing an integrated and up-to-date database on the industrial sector in the Sultanate. The survey data is used in the development of plans, policies, development programmes and other purposes that serve development. The survey is carried out through field visits to establishments and by their submitting survey forms.

Ahmed bin Harib Al Ya’qoubi, Director of the Industrial Analysis and Publication Department at the Industrial Information Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said that industrial establishments covered by the industrial survey for 2017 included 371 establishments in the Governorate of Muscat, 220 in the Governorate of North Al Batinah, 50 in the Governorate of South Al Batinah, 47 in Governorate of A’Dakhiliyah, 96 in the Governorate of Dhofar, 35 in the Governorate of A’Dhahirah, 48 in the Governorate of Al Buraimi, 47 in the Governorate of South A’Sharqiyah, 44 in the Governorate of North A’Sharqiyah and 5 in the Governorate of Musandam.

Al Ya’qoubi said that the annual industrial survey is carried out in various governorates of the Sultanate to list the number of industrial establishments operating in the Sultanate which have an industrial registration and whose investment cost is OMR5,000 or more, along with the number of workers in facilities exceeding nine workers, in a bid to collect industrial data for the industrial sector for the fiscal year 2017.