Calls for Turning Stability Into Investment Gains
“Bahrain has shown it can face economic pressure calmly while keeping development and services moving forward.” - Khalid Al Maskati, Head of the Shura Council’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee
Bahrain should use the calm that followed recent tensions to push growth, quicken development projects and keep support flowing to the sectors hit hardest, Khalid Al Maskati has said.
The head of the Shura Council’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee said government measures to provide liquidity, aid affected sectors and cover the wages of Bahrainis in the private sector during exceptional circumstances showed that citizens remained first among state priorities.
He said those steps helped protect living standards and social stability, while giving firms room to keep operating through a difficult spell.
Mr Al Maskati said the next phase should be treated as a chance to draw more investment, move faster on projects and deepen links between the public and private sectors.
‘Countries are not measured only by their ability to get through challenges, but also by their ability to turn those challenges into chances for growth and to build on what has been achieved,’ he said.
Bahrain, he added, had shown under His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and with the follow-up of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, that its institutions could keep the economy on firm ground during periods of pressure.
The kingdom now needed to build on that base by moving faster on development projects, aiding growth sectors and giving investors, citizens and the private sector greater confidence in the course of the economy, he said.
Mr Al Maskati said reforms in finance and the wider economy, fiscal discipline, digital change and an improved legal framework had helped Bahrain keep services and business activity running despite shifting conditions.
He said those steps were no longer optional reforms, but part of the economy’s ability to absorb pressure and adapt.
He said the past period also showed the need for closer work between state bodies and the private sector, with economic activity and services relying on joint planning rather than short-term remedies alone.
Economic confidence, Mr Al Maskati said, is now one of the main drivers of investment. Investors are more likely to expand when they see stability and a clear course ahead, while reassurance among citizens feeds into spending, demand and wider market activity.
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