Economists and traders said that Bahrain as it celebrates the 14th anniversary of the National Action Charter has accomplished countless economic gains building on the basis of economic freedom, income diversification, and the creation and provision of more job opportunities making the Bahraini citizen the preferred choice in the local labour market.
They told Bahrain News Agency (BNA) that the National Action Charter (NAC) forms the robust foundation for sustainable economic growth. The NAC was endorsed by 98.4% who voted "yes" in the plebiscite in which the people's participation reached the threshold of 90% emanating from their belief in the opportunities of dignified livelihood and moving into the phase of prosperity.
They expressed optimism regarding the accomplishing of more developmental goals by continuing on the same path in order to consolidate national economic pillars through sound financial and monetary policy.
Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI)'s board member Abdul-Hakeem Al-Shammari said that the National Action Charter is the sum of persistent efforts undertaken by all community components in the Kingdom, including politicians, economists, sociologists, professionals and academicians.
Economic analyst and productivity expert, Dr. Akbar Jaffary, said that the achievements accomplished in the past 14 years are innumerable, primarily the doubling of the size of our national economy, the boosting of per capital income to a leading global level, whilst the Kingdom has ranked 31st amongst more than 200 countries.
BCCI's board member Khalid Al-Amin said that the National Action Charter has been accomplished with all of its economic basis completely, with economic freedoms prevalent in all aspects of the commercial and industrial activities, whilst the ownership of all classes of enterprises has reached 100% for all nationalities. Income sources and economic activities have been diversified to a level that is unprecedented in any neighboring country, and the Kingdom has become an example to be followed in terms of economic freedom and justice in the region and worldwide.
The most significant accomplishments of the Charter was the successful maintaining unemployment at an average rate at 3.6% compared with advanced countries that suffer from the bane of unemployment, he added.
Al-Amin said that Bahraini citizens began to reap the fruits of the Charter by enjoying better and higher standard of living, welfare, prosperity thanks to the sound plans of the leadership and government, that take into consideration the magnification of the partnership between the private and public sectors in order to achieve further national economic boom.