2019, a VitAl year To realise nation’s dreams

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday extended its best New Year wishes to to HM the King, HRH the Prime Minister, and to the people of the Kingdom. It affirmed its commitment to continue monitoring all ministries’ efforts towards ensuring VAT compliance, and instructed the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to intensify its efforts in monitoring the market, enhancing consumer protection and responding to violations.

In response to HM the King’s directives to consider citizens’ needs through exemptions and non-application of VAT on basic goods and services, the Cabinet approved a memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy exempting 1,400 government services from the VAT. It reviewed a memorandum submitted by the Ministerial Committee for Financial, Economic and Fiscal Balance Affairs outlining the progress of the six initiatives of the Fiscal Balance Program (2019-2022), since its launch on Oct 4, 2018.

The Cabinet recognised the progress revealed by the performance indicators and highlighted the Arab Monetary Fund’s commendation of the program’s developments and the establishment of the necessary frameworks that would support achieving the program’s objectives. The Cabinet praised all the efforts exerted towards achieving the Fiscal Balance Program’s objectives through the constructive co-operation of all government entities, and instructed that the National Budget for the year 2019-2020 reflects Bahrain’s economic policy that aims to achieve fiscal balance by the year 2022.

The session approved a memorandum requesting the reduction of hotel service fees from 10 per cent to 5pc to accelerate the development of the tourism sector and benefit both tourists and residents alike. The Cabinet discussed the joint memorandum submitted following the directives of HRH the PM regarding the construction of 67 public schools. In this regard, the Cabinet reviewed a memorandum highlighting the construction progress and recommended procedures to deal with the cases outlined in the report. Cabinet instructed the Ministry of Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning, and the Ministry of Education to present a cost analysis report.

The Cabinet approved a memorandum banning the import of plastic waste following the Government Executive Committee chaired by HRH CP’s direction to the Ministerial Committee for Urbanisation and Infrastructure in coordination with the Supreme Council for Environment and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, to propose solutions on reducing the waste of plastic bags. It also reviewed a memorandum categorising proposed laws and legislations at the Legislative Authority into two categories following ministerial feedback, which are: proposed laws being considered and proposed laws not being considered.