Housing Loan Payments Pause Backed for a Year

TDT | Manama

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Parliament on Tuesday passed an urgent proposal calling for Eskan Bank loan instalments for all Bahrainis using housing services to be deferred for one year, as MPs pointed to the financial strain linked to the fallout from the Iranian attacks.

The proposal, submitted by Khalid Buanaq, Ahmed Al Salloom, Hisham Al Awadhi, Zainab AbdulAmeer and Mohammed Al Maarefi, was put forward as a way to leave families with extra cash as prices come under pressure from shipping costs, insurance charges and supply disruption.

Buanaq said the aim was to give households ‘pre-emptive financial protection’ by keeping money in their hands in case basic goods rise in price. ‘Providing this surplus prevents families from falling into debt or failing to meet living needs,’ he said, adding that it would help keep food and social stability in place during the economic strain caused by military threats in the region.

He said the one-year pause would also help local trade, with markets and shopping centres already hit by weaker buying activity as fewer expats and residents visited commercial areas.

Buanaq told MPs that families were also facing higher household costs because many had stayed indoors for long spells as a precaution. That, he said, was likely to drive up electricity and water use and add to pressure on monthly budgets.

‘The citizen finds himself forced to bear extra costs resulting from circumstances beyond his control,’ he said.