SMEs set to play a bigger role ‘in diversification of economy’

Having achieved its goals in the past year, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the SME Development Board will move forward with an emphasis on SME empowerment, aiming to boost SME contribution to 40 per cent of the GDP by the year 2022. The development of SMEs will be a top priority for the ministry and the newly formed SME Development Board which the ministry heads, said Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Chairman of the SME Development Board, Zayed Al Zayani.

The minister was speaking during a roundtable meeting with media representatives held at the ministry’s premises at Bahrain Financial Harbour yesterday. The SMEs Development Board is working through 17 Initiatives/ programmes that prioritise five strategic themes, he said. “We have developed a national SME plan which was approved by His Royal Highness the Crown Price and the EDB board in February. The plan was done as part of the SME Development Board, which the ministry heads and works with EDB, BDB, and Tamkeen as well various other bodies such as the BCCI.” “Three main KPIs we are aiming to achieve for the SME development by 2022.

We want to increase the contribution of SMEs to the GDP from 30pc in 2017 to 40pc by 2022. Secondly we want to increase the SMEs contribution to exports from 8 to 20pc. We also want to increase the number of Bahrainis employed within this sector from nearly 36,000 to 43,000.” Shedding light on the ‘Bahrain Export’ initiative, the minister said, “One of the major initiatives that we undertook and launched was the export development centre, which was started in November that aim to motivate and cultivate an export culture. “When I say export I do not necessarily mean goods, we talk about goods and services as well. There is a lot of potential for us when it comes to exports,” he said.

“We have signed deals with financial institutions that will support it. Since November there has been a huge influx of inquiries,” he said. Speaking on the ministry’s goals for the medium-term, he said, “The common factors for our next four years will be to improve efficiency and improve delivery of goods and services and to create a more diversified and competitive, growing economy that fosters the use of technology and be competitive on a world scale in line with the 2030 vision.” On Bahrain economy, he said, “Bahrain has good growth despite the challenges around.

We have maintained our growth between 3 and 4 per cent, i think that continues to be the projection going forward. Oil prices obviously will be a factor, nobody can predict exactly what the oil prices will be?” “This is why Bahrain is very keen on diversifying the economy so that we do not end up being too reliant on one sector or one commodity that would swing our numbers either way. This diversification process started in the sixties, its not something new, we re-invented our economy time and time again, whether moving into industry or moving into banking or telecoms. The next era of Bahrain is the development of SMEs.”