Muscat: The department of statistics at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the number of industrial licenses, as well as customs and tax exemptions given during the first quarter of 2019, was 2,654 which is a whopping increase of 602.1% over 378 during the same period last year.
The number of industrial licenses given in the first quarter of this year was 2,519, compared with just 326 licenses issued in the first quarter of 2018. This increase is due to many companies which instead of renewing their licenses, preferred to apply for new licenses. Most of these companies have also submitted the application due to the expiry of their environmental approvals. The electronic link of the ‘Invest Easy’ system was also made operational to connect the industrial licenses and environmental approvals.
The number of customs exemptions during the first quarter of the year 2019 was 130, compared with just 39 of the same period last year. There were five applications submitted for tax exemptions during the first quarter of this year, compared with 13 applications submitted during the same period last year.