Bahrain showing economic growth amid pandemic: Finance Minister

TDT | Manama

Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has stressed the need to intensify efforts and step up joint co-operation to face the challenges amidst the coronavirus pandemic and support economic growth.

The Minister emphasized that the Kingdom of Bahrain has placed the health and safety of citizens and residents at the top of its priorities even before the outbreak of the respiratory illness.

He was speaking at the Sovereign Investor Forum held by Standard Chartered Bank on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank 2020, held remotely, with the participation of a number of international investors and clients of sovereign funds.

During the forum, the Minister noted that the economic growth of Bahrain has shown a remarkable improvement in the third quarter of 2020 for many sectors and is expected to continue to achieve the required rates of positive growth based on a number of economic indicators.
 He indicated that the Kingdom launched a financial and economic stimulus package worth BD4.5 billion, equivalent to 31% of the country’s GDP, to support the diversification of the economy.

Through this initiative, the country is pumping the necessary liquidity to the private sector and supporting individuals and companies, which contributed to reducing the repercussions of the pandemic on various vital sectors.

It also protected jobs by ensuring the payment of full salaries of working citizens in the private sector during the first three months of the pandemic, followed by 50% support for their salaries extending to the end of the current year. In addition, a number of financial measures were put in place that stimulated the growth of the economy.

The Minister said the Kingdom is moving forward with implementing all promising plans and policies that would contribute to successfully overcoming the challenge of the coronavirus in a way that would continue economic growth.