COVID-19: Bahrain MPs favour economic stimulus package extension

Cairo: A majority of Bahrain’s lawmakers have voiced backing for a proposal to extend a stimulus package launched to mitigate economic impact of the new coronavirus for three more months, according to media reports.

Thirty-five members of the 40-strong assembly signed a statement strongly backing the proposal recently made by five colleagues including Speaker of the parliament Fawzia Zainal for extending the financial and economic package until the end of September, Bahraini newspaper Akhbar Al Khaleej said.

The Bahraini government unveiled a $11 billion stimulus package to aid the private sector in grappling with the fallout from the COVID-19.

In April, the government decided to expand the package to cover more categories of workers affected by the economic impact of the virus, including taxi and bus drivers for three months.

In their statement, the lawmakers said that without the package, the Bahraini economy would have suffered “enormous negative effects” and 30-40 per cent of the Bahraini workers have been laid off.

“The government in cooperation with the legislative authority have been able to safeguard the Bahraini labour in the private sector in the months of April, May and June in a way that has reflected positively on stability of the Bahraini society and the national economy,” they added.

The legislators called for continuing to offer financial support only for the sectors affected by economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis during July, August and September, urging big companies to shoulder their “national and social responsibility”.