Subsidy redirection debate postponed to next week

Parliamentarians yesterday voted to postpone the discussion of the government’s subsidy redirection plans to next week’s session. This has been agreed upon by the majority of MPs during the weekly parliament session held in Gudaibiya yesterday and chaired by Speaker Ahmed bin Ibrahim Al Mulla.

The session included several discussions and voting on a number of law proposals and parliamentary suggestions.

The meeting also discussed the proposal of imposing fees on money remittance from Bahrain. It was recently presented on an urgent basis by MPs Ahmed Al Ahmad, Nabeel Al Baloshi, Mohammed Al Maarifi, Isa Turki and Anas Buhindi.

During the session MP Al Ahmad explained that the proposal aimed at acquiring small percentages of the amounts remitted abroad (BD2.5 billion last year). He said it would contribute in diversifying the country’s sources of income and reduce dependency on oil-industries’ incomes.

MP Jamal Buhassan opposed to the proposal, as “it will have a negative effect on Bahrain’s reputation and would harm citizens’ benefit.”

“Majority of expats transferring funds abroad is from the low-income category. Life expenses are increasing in Bahrain. We don’t need to put more burden on them. This will also mean higher salaries for them, which is another load on the burdened citizens,” Buhassan explained.

However, majority of lawmakers supported the suggestion of the council’s Second Deputy Speaker Abdulhalim Murad, who said “the proposal should be studied by the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee before it could be referred to the Government.”

 MPs voted for a proposal that stipulates the extension of working hours at Jidhafs Health Centre, which serves a huge popularity in the Capital Governorate.

Presenter of the proposal MP Ali Al Ateesh said, “The centre serves around 55, 000 people who are distributed among 29 residential blocks. This demands the operation of the health centre around the clock, or at least until midnight.”

The MP mentioned that “the centre receives 600 cases on a daily basis and refers the remaining cases to other health centres, which sometimes reject the redirected patients, as they’re packed with their own medical cases.”

Majority of MPs voted for the proposal, which will be referred to the government for approval.