IMF RECOMMENDATIONS ECHO BAHRAIN FISCAL PLAN SAYS FINANCE MINISTER

Manama, Jan. 29 (BNA):Bahrain’s Finance Minister, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa, today thanked the International Monetary Fund for its ongoing analysis, reporting and support of Bahrain, whose latest country recommendations “echo Bahrain’s current fiscal action plan” said the Minister. He also welcomed the IMF’s positive outlook on Bahrain’s banking sector whose ‘strong capitalization and liquidity’ the report said would help ‘weather’ any potential slowdown in growth. "The Kingdom of Bahrain, along with other oil producing nations, is facing the universal challenge of falling oil prices” said Shaikh Ahmed. “Bahrain’s Government Action Plan, currently underway, includes wide-ranging measures that will ensure the sustainability of Bahrain's financial resources and development, benefitting the entire country”. “Bahrain’s clear target is to deliver a balanced budget within three budgetary cycles” the Finance Minister added, in the clearest indication yet of the Kingdom’s determination on fiscal measures. He continued: "The plan also aims to create a balance between our revenues and expenditures, continuing the long-standing diversification of Bahrain's economy by increasing non-oil revenues, redirecting subsidies to Bahraini citizens, and reducing recurrent expenditure by restructuring government departments.” The Finance Minister added that "the government’s program and strategic projects currently valued at 32bn US Dollars are already being delivered and are augmented by a range of development projects supported by the GCC Development Fund, valued at 10bn US Dollars over ten years. Together, these will promote economic growth and development and, in turn, benefit Bahrain’s citizens by maximising the use of existing resources and resulting in long-term economic sustainability." The Minister continued: "These projects are fundamental elements of the Government’s action plan, supporting national priorities ranging from housing, airport expansion, infrastructure, and social projects” which, he said, "also underline the government's commitment to job creation and maintaining Bahrain's low unemployment rate, which has remained fixed at 3.8% for the last few years." Shaikh Ahmed finished by saying the Government's continued work on developing the national economy was being delivered "through a holistic, cross-sector approach, focussed on improving the Kingdom’s GDP, which rose from 3.4bn USD in 2000 to 12.8bn USD in 2014”.