Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa underlined Bahrain’s sound financial policies amid unprecedented oil prices slump.

“Bahrain has managed to strike the balance between revenues and expenditure and promote citizens as the cornerstone of sustainable development despite plummeting oil prices”, he said.

He reiterated the Government’s commitment to the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa to implement strategies and policies aimed at diversifying revenues, boosting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and optimizing resources.

The Deputy Premier made the statement as he attended the Government Forum 2017, which opened today under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa.

The Deputy Premier chaired the first discussion session, which engaged ministers, focusing on the economic and financial issues, in addition to the infrastructure.

He paid tribute to HRH the Premier his patronage, lauding the initiative of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier to turn the Government Forum into an annual platform for senior officials to scrutinize the reality and plan the future.

He underlined the Government’s strenuous efforts through the past three fiscal years to adopt state budgets to confront challenges resulting from the financial situations.

He commended the role of the Executive Committee, chaired by HRH the Crown Prince, which approved the establishment of six work teams to slash recurrent expenditure at ministries and government departments without affecting productivity.

The Deputy Premier cited other initiatives led by the Government to redirect subsidies to benefit citizens only and implement the infrastructure cost refund principle.

Source: Khaleej Times