Al Salloom Backs New SME Classification

A new ministerial decree on the classification of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will help bring greater clarity to Bahrain’s business sector and ensure support is more fairly targeted, MP Ahmed Al Salloum has said.

Al Salloum, chairman of Parliament’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee and chairman of the Bahrain SMEs Development Society, said Industry and Commerce Minister’s Decree No. 23 of 2026 marked a key step in updating the way businesses are grouped, using clearer measures based on workforce size and yearly income.

He said the new rules align with recent business sector changes and would give a more accurate picture of each firm’s scale, operating strength and financial standing.

The updated classification, he added, would help micro-enterprises receive services that better match their needs, while giving small and medium-sized businesses wider room to benefit from funding and development schemes suited to their size and capacity.

Al Salloum said the decree would also support fairer distribution of government benefits and incentives, while helping build a more accurate database for economic planning. 

Such data, he said, would help shape policy and guide decisions based on real market indicators, positively affecting private-sector competitiveness and its role in Bahrain’s economic growth. 

He said the move showed the Ministry of Industry and Commerce’s keenness to update the SME classification system in line with economic changes and newer business practices, strengthening the sector's role in the national economy.

Mr Al Salloum said the decree did not rely on a single measure, but used both workforce size and annual income, giving a fuller view of a company’s economic activity.

He said some firms, particularly those built around technology, could generate high income with a small number of employees, while others needed larger workforces because of the nature of their operations. 

Using both measures, he said, would allow for greater fairness and accuracy in classification, while taking account of the varied nature of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Bahraini market.