The cost of living - 2014 Update

Long time readers of ze blog will know that in the past I've written about the cost of living in Muscat here (2009) and here (2010) and before that I made a post on Oman Forum here. So I figured it was time to have an update here on MM.

Much of what I wrote in 2009 and 2010 (and I did a 2013 update on the Oman Forum post as well) is still true.

House rentals, in my opinion, have started climbing once again, a great website to look at a number of rental company listings is See Muscat. My rent is 900 a month for a semi-detached villa on Ghubra beach as a guide, and I pay 6 months up front. Big (5-7 bedrooms) villas in Ansab are now running in the 700-850 a month range.

School fees increase every year, here's a list of schools around town:

TAISM
British School Muscat
ABA
Ecole Francaise de Mascate
Sultan's School
Choueifat
MIS
Azzan bin Qais
Sahwa
Indian Schools: Darsait, Ghubra, Wadi Kabir
Sri Lankan School - Wadi Kabir
Pakistan School
Egyptian School

Salalah:
British School Salalah

Sohar:
Al Batinah International School

For an indication on costs, Fees per year for a 5 year old at BSM is currently around RO 2,800, and for an 8 year old it is around RO 3,500

At a glance costs
A loaf of bread (premium) - RO 0.650
A litre of fuel - RO 0.120
A litre of milk - RO 0.525
1KG Chicken (boneless) - RO 1.500
A Mcdonalds meal - RO 1.400 - 2.000
A news paper - RO 0.200
A 6pack of Pepsi/Coke - RO 0.800
A pint of beer in a 5* Bar - RO 2.800 but Habana is still 2.300 for the time being
Interest on a personal loan - 6%
A KG of local tomato's - RO 0.360
A KG of Holland tomato's - RO2.125
A 20KG sack of rice - RO 12.000
A 10KG bag of flour - RO 1.900
A large Water Cooler bottle - RO 1.000
A 250g pack of frozen bacon - RO 2.500
A case of Heineken - RO 13.900

For a more in depth look at basic foodstuff costs, check out the PACP website, and it's incredibly useful monthly price tracker - just select the month you want to look at prices for and follow your nose (at the time of writing Jan 2014 was the most up to date one).

le fin.