Bahrain upbeat on economic recovery and sustaining growth

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is implementing a five-year strategy from next year to develop the financial services sector as part of the Kingdom’s economic recovery plan and to sustain growth.

The announcement of the 2022-2026 initiatives was made by Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Governor Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj during a press conference held yesterday.

Also present were Economic Development Board (EDB) Chief Executive Khalid Ibrahim Humaidan, Bahrain Bourse CEO Shaikh Khalifa bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa and Bahrain Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (BIBF) Director-General Dr Ahmed Abdul Hamid Al Shaikh.

The strategy is based on many programmes in various fields within five main priorities, which are: creating job opportunities and developing legislation and policies, the financial market sector, financial services and financial technology, and the insurance sector.

Al Maraj stressed the importance of the strategy to develop the financial services being one of the government priority economic sectors, particularly developing “promising sectors”.

It comes in fulfilment of the visions of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to develop the national economy, create more qualitative opportunities for citizens, increase the Kingdom’s competitiveness, and attract investments.

Al Maraj said it comes in implementation of the Cabinet’s decision to set a comprehensive strategy for the banking sector for the next five years to maintain the path of economic growth and enhance financial and economic position in line with the objectives of the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

He added that the development of the financial services sector will play a key role in stimulating various other economic sectors in a way that enhances the Kingdom’s position as a regional centre for financial services, and contributes to continuing to achieve progress and development.

Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Governor Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj noted that when formulating the strategy, consideration was taken into consideration the most important changes and developments in the financial services sector locally, regionally and internationally.

A number of programmes have been developed in accordance with the best international experiences and practices in this field, in a manner that maintains the sustainability of financial services and keeps pace with the latest methods and systems.

The Governor stressed that the government attaches great importance to continuing to strengthen the role of the financial services sector, which is the largest non-oil contributor to the GDP of Bahrain.

He reviewed the most important statistics related to the financial sector in the Kingdom. The number of licensed financial institutions has reached 367, while the workforce in this sector reached 13,737 workers.

The size of the banking sector’s assets amounted to $211.7 billion, and the financial sector’s contribution to the GDP is 17.9%, with an average of 12.1% in the banking sector, and 5.8% in the insurance sector.

Al Maraj stated that the strategy’s performance indicators revolve around increasing the share of financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises in a phased manner and on a gradual basis, to reach 20% of the local financing portfolio of retail banks by the end of 2025, and the inclusion of 5 promising companies on the Bahrain investment market, and a reduction in paper cash circulation by 25%.