Authorities in Oman have warned the country's recruitment agencies to ensure they offer sufficient levels of assistance to their foreign workers, it has been reported.

Recruitment agencies are responsible for paying their employees on time as well as providing sufficient healthcare and accommodation, according to the country's labour under-secretary Hamad Bin Hilal Al Busaidy.

He also said the "poor performance of some recruitment offices" has spurred him to suggest the introduction of a programme to help monitor the working methods of recruitment agencies, the Khaleej Times reported.

When questioned on the volume of expat employees leaving the country at short notice, the minister said this could also be down to the performance of recruitment agencies and said that new laws would shortly come into practice regarding this issue.

Towards the end of last month, authorities in Oman ceased to issue visas to overseas employees looking to work in jobs such as cleaning and electronic repair in an effort to nationalise the posts, the India Times reported.