Subsidies to be extended only to Bahraini citizens: Adel Al Asoomi

Manama

In an official statement Parliamentary member Adel Al Asoomi said yesterday that half of the government subsidies go to expats. “It's now time to lift subsidies for expats and tourists and to redirect the government funding in a way that citizens become the only beneficiary,” the statement said. 

The government had last month announced that it was scrapping meat subsidies from August 1, as well as increasing fees for government services to make them available at cost price. The MP also spoke in favour of the new measures, highlighting that expats benefit from over half of the government financial support, and this 'exhausts the local resources.' 

"It's now time to devise new mechanism for the government subsidy, as this must be extended to the Bahraini citizens only with an aim to reduce the cost of commodities and public services by making the government bear partial of the original costs," Al Asoomi highlighted in the statement. 

"But the main issue is that the current subsidy policy doesn't go directly to the citizens, as all the subsidised commodities and services are available to expats and tourists. Over half of the total government subsidies to services and commodities go to the expats.

"This deny the Bahraini people from getting maximum value from the local resources, and now it's time to redirect the subsidies so the local citizens become the sole recipients," he added.

Al Asoomi also called for the fuel and electricity subsidies to be lifted.