SIX MORE MONTHS OF GRACE PERIOD CAN MAKE LIFE EASY AND COMOFRTABLE – Says Mohammed Dadabhai

A top Bahraini businessman has called for the government to extend its assistance to local businesses for an additional six months to help alleviate the economic repercussions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in the Kingdom.

Dadabhai acknowledged that the government has already done plenty to help companies and Bahrain’s people over the past several months, such as covering the cost of certain services and paying citizens’ salaries. He said that an extension of such measures would be greatly helpful, as the Kingdom has begun its phased re-opening. “Recovery time only starts with the start of movement—maybe in the next six months, when things are open and people have adapted to the measures to protect themselves from the coronavirus as part of their lives.”

Dadabhai Group chairman Mohammed Dadabhai added that deferring loan payments and waiving the interest collected from these for the same aforementioned period, to allow for Bahrain’s businesses to recover amidst the ongoing circumstances caused by the pandemic.

“We may need another six months to normalise our business and social life. Hundreds of businesses employ people, but once that business is not in a position to produce cash flow, what will happen to those people?” Dadabhai said as he participated in an online forum organised by the Indian Community Relief Fund. “Those people get affected, and it goes on and on,” he added.

“Businesses must be protected; if they are protected, then people’s jobs are protected,” Dadabhai continued. “If that can be done for six months, businesses can have some breathing room

He was speaking in a webinar conducted by ICRF in association with The Daily Tribune