Oman is securing 200,000 tonnes of rice, enough to feed the population for two years, in an effort to help consumers cope with soaring food commodity prices, Commerce and Industry minister Makboul bin Ali bin Sultan said.

The minister said the sultanate had also secured 50,000 tonnes of flour to meet local consumption.

The World Food Programme has described soaring food prices as a 'silent tsunami' that threatens to plunge more than 100 million people into poverty.

Protests, strikes and riots have erupted in developing countries around the world after dramatic rises in the prices of wheat, rice, corn, oils and other essential foods.

Inflation is taking the shine off the rapid economic growth experienced by Gulf oil exporters, including Oman, flush with windfall oil revenues.

Annual inflation in Oman, one of six Gulf oil producers, surged above 10 per cent this year for the first time in 18 years as food prices soared.

Food, beverage and tobacco costs - which account for almost a third of the consumer price index - surged 17 per cent in January and 19.6 per cent in February, the Omani ministry of national economy said.

Oman's ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ordered an increase of up to 43 per cent in state salaries and 5 per cent to 35 per cent in state pensions to help offset inflation.

On top food inflation, rents were up 14.1 per cent in February from a year earlier.