MPs told to rejig rules to diversify local income

Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa has urged legislators to re-review the current legislations in order to hurriedly diversify the local income. He was replying to a question by MP Nabil Al Balushi about the measures taken by the government to diversify the national income during the weekly session of the Parliament yesterday. 

Minister Shaikh Ahmed called on MPs to focus their efforts on this subject at this stage due to the ongoing circumstances that “need us to take swift actions in re-reviewing and amending the legislations to keep abreast of economical changes.” He pointed out that “some of the countries resorted to impose pollution taxes, and this option can be studies by you as a legislative authority,” indicating at the Paris Climate Conference that discussed imposing taxes on emissions.  

“The State is vying in providing some of the services with the private sector, though we could rely on this sector to provide these services and limit the public sector with providing the basic ones as we need to reduce the expenses at the earliest. More services means more expenses on the shoulders of the State,” he explained. “Thus if we don’t take actions to decrease the number of the services provided by the public sector we will talk again about increasing the public debt.” 

“We need to tackle the public debt by growing the revenues and reduce our expenses. Quick actions are required to prove that we can adapt to the circumstances that we are going through in light of the significant decline in the income of the State because of the large drop of oil prices,” he added. Shaikh Ahmed underlined that the gross domestic product reached in 2014 12.7 billion Bahrain dinars, while it was only 3.4bn on Bahraini dinars in 2000. 

Al Balushi, meanwhile, urged to form a national council responsible for the issue of diversifying the national income and put up a ‘logical’ plan to achieve this in a specific and clear time frame. 

Photo : Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa