DUBAI: The Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al-Said, issued a decree on Monday to start imposing a five percent value-added tax (VAT) within six months.
Oman News Agency said that a law was also issued to amend some provisions of the Criminal Procedures Law, and that the VAT law will be imposed on most goods and services, with some exceptions.
The government said it will have a limited impact on the cost of living.
The tax will be applied 100 percent on tobacco and its derivatives, energy drinks, alcoholic beverages and pork, while 50 percent will be applied to soft drinks based on their retail price.
The sultanate intended to impose five percent VAT in 2018, but postponed it until 2020.
The law is part of a broader 2016 agreement between all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Saudi Arabia. The UAE and Bahrain have already implemented the five percent VAT law.
Oman to introduce 5% VAT within six months
https://arab.news/yndww
Oman to introduce 5% VAT within six months
- The tax is expected to have limited impact on living costs
5 bodies of migrants washed ashore in east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, police officer says
TRIPOLI: At least five bodies of migrants including two women have been washed ashore in َQasr Al-Akhyar, a coastal town in the east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, a police officer told Reuters on Saturday.
Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr Al-Akhyar police station, said that according to people in the area, a child’s body washed ashore and because of the waves’ height the body returned to the sea, and the coast guard was asked to search for it.
Ghawil said the bodies are all dark-skinned people. The bodies were found on Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in the western part of the town by people who reported to the police station.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.
Qasr Al-Akhyar is a coastal town some 73 kilometers (45 miles) east of Tripoli.
Pictures were posted on the Internet, and also seen by Reuters, showing the bodies of the migrants lying on the shore, where some were still within black inflatable lifebuoys.
“We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies,” said Ghawil. “The bodies we found are still intact and we think there are more bodies to wash ashore.”
Earlier this month, fifty-three migrants, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Zuwara town in western Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last week, a UN report said migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, calling for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.
