The total value of wages payment processed through Oman’s Wage Protection System (WPS), an electronic salary transfer system, increased by 10% in 2022 as compared to the previous, according to the latest statistics released by Central Bank of Oman (CBO).

The WPS system is developed by the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and CBO, to ensure a secure and timely transfer of employees wages in the private sector to their authorised bank accounts.

“According to CBO, the total number of transactions processed through WPS grew nearly 10% to 8.2mn in 2022 as compared to 7.5mn in 2021 and 6.3mn in 2020,” reported Muscat daily.

The Oman based website said that the CBO has been directing banks to attract the largest number of private sector establishments to register in WPS.

The CBO has been asking banks within the sultanate to provide an easy and smooth mechanism for transferring salaries and recurring payments through electronic banking.

The Minister of Labour has issued a ministerial decision mandating implementation of the WPS in which employers are obligated to transfer employees wages to local banks within a maximum of seven days.

WPS processes and monitors wages payment operations in a unified format using electronic banking services by creating an accurate database for the wages of private sector workers.

Earlier this month, the ministry announced plans to raise awareness on WPS starting the month of October in collaboration with the General Federation of Oman Workers.