The Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain in October 2021 announced the Economic Recovery Plan, in line with His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s direction and the ongoing follow up of Cabinet by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.
The Economic Recovery Plan includes
(5) Priorities & (27) Programs:
Creating quality jobs for Citizens to make them the ‘employee of choice’ in the labor markets.
It aims to recruit 20,000 Bahrainis and train 10,000 Bahrainis annually until 2024.
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- Implement the National Labor Market Strategy initiatives (2021-2023)
- Review labor fees to reduce the gap in the total cost of hiring Bahrainis vs. non-Bahrainis.
- Launch Tamkeen’s new programs to enhance the competitiveness of the Bahraini workforce in line with current and future labor market needs.
Simplifying and increasing the efficiency of commercial procedures
It aims to attract investments by a total of USD 2.5 billion by 2023
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- Upgrade Sijilat and accelerate the issuance of government licenses to companies.
- Launch an electronic system for urban planning services.
- Update laws and legislations to support ongoing development.
- Launch the Government Land Bank.
- Offer residency permits for talented individuals and foreign investors.
- Sign international bilateral economic agreements.
- Review and documentation government services and putting in place service level agreements (SLA).
Launching major strategic projects
It’s target to launch strategic projects worth over USD30 billion
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- Designate new industrial investment areas.
- Partner with the private sector to execute major projects.
Developing strategic priority sectors
It aims to achieve growth in the non- oil sector of 5% by 2022.
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- Launch of several strategies:
- Oil and Gas sector strategy.
- Tourism sector strategy.
- Industrial sector strategy.
- Logistics sector strategy.
- Financial sector strategy.
- Telecommunications, IT, and digital economy strategy.
- Launch Tamkeen’s new enterprise programs to drive growth through enhancing their productivity and encouraging investment in strategic sectors.
Achieving Fiscal sustainability and economic stability
It aims to achieve fiscal balance by 2024.
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- Reduce recurrent non-manpower expenditure.
- Reduce project spend.
- Reduce manpower expenditure.
- Streamline the distribution of cash subsidies to citizens.
- Increase contributions of government-owned entities.
- Adjust commodities prices and prices of services provided to companies.
- Introduce new government services revenue initiatives.
- Increase VAT to 10% through legislative procedures.
OTHER INITIATIVES
