CAIRO- Oman has formally launched an electricity spot market, the first in the Middle East, to increase the efficiency of power procurement, the state news agency said on Wednesday.

The small Gulf oil producer has also extended the timeframe of a planned redirecting of electricity subsidies for residential consumers to 10 years from 5 years, and capped power tariffs for the same category throughout 2022 at December 2021 levels.

(Reporting by Alaa Swilam and Yasmin Hussein; Writing by Ahmad Elhamy; Editing by Jan Harvey)