Parliament to Vote on Audit Report Warning of Expat Permit Breaches

Parliament will debate and vote next Thursday on the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee’s report on the National Audit Office’s 2024–2025 findings, including breaches linked to expat work permits and commercial registrations.

The committee completed its review on 11 February after nine meetings with ministries, public bodies and regulators, before submitting ten recommendations based on the watchdog’s assessment of public finances and institutional performance across 81 entities.  

Led by MP Ahmed Sabah Al Salloom, the committee said it wanted closer tracking of how ministries and public bodies spend project budgets, with regular checks comparing actual spending against allocations.  

It urged the government to study the reasons behind low spending rates on some projects and address them to improve budget planning and the use of allocated funds.  

The committee also called for stronger internal oversight across ministries and public bodies, with disciplinary action where breaches occur.  

It recommended finishing work to deal with repeated observations raised in past audit reports, after follow-up reviews found that a number of earlier recommendations were still pending.  

MPs were urged to examine ministry replies to audit findings and decide whether to accept them or use parliamentary oversight tools to hold ministers politically accountable for violations linked to their portfolios.  

Other recommendations covered stronger internal controls, better governance and organisation, raising the quality of public services, improving digital systems, cutting spending while improving value for money, and support for sustainable development goals.  

The audit findings behind the report included repeated issues in labour market regulation, including cases where the Labour Market Regulatory Authority issued work permits to foreigners who held commercial registrations, despite the permits being granted on the basis that they were workers tied to an employer and not allowed to carry out business activity.  

It also recorded cases where work permits were not cancelled after foreign workers later acquired commercial registrations, which the audit said ran against the requirements of the Labour Market Regulation Law.

The audit further pointed to cases involving ‘registered worker’ permits, where permits were issued to foreigners who held commercial registrations, and other cases where permits were not cancelled after workers acquired such registrations.

On public finances, the report cited a rise in project spending from BD277 million in 2023 to BD291 million in 2024.  

It said the actual deficit between state revenues and expenditure rose from BD774 million in 2023 to BD1.026 billion in 2024.   

Public debt stood at about BD19.3 billion as of 31 December 2024, up from BD17.9 billion a year earlier, while interest payments rose to BD945 million in 2024 compared with BD843 million in 2023.  

The audit also noted borrowing by some ministries and public bodies that was not included within the public debt balance recorded by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, with what could be identified amounting to about BD4.9 billion for 2024, compared with BD3.9 billion for 2023.