Boosting Islamic finance

The Cabinet session yesterday chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, discussed amending the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and Financial Institutions Law, with the aim of keeping pace with international financial regulations and providing better protection for financial institutions.

The amendment also aims to provide legal coverage to Islamic financial services, consolidate control texts related to institutions that are subjects to the CBB’s supervision, and deepen the requirements of fiscal stability. The session decided to refer a draft-law on amending some provisions of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Financial Institutions Law, promulgated by Law 64/2006, to the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs.

Among other things, HRH the Prime Minister directed five ministries to study 16 service projects that would improve the quality of government services across the Kingdom, as part of his positive response to the remarks made by a number of lawmakers, whom he received recently. In this regard, HRH Premier gave directives to Health Ministry, Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry, Education Ministry, Housing Ministry and the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry to study the needs of the citizens in Hamad Town, Qalali, Muharraq, Zallaq, Al Lawzi and Manama in the fields of health, education, housing, municipal work, urban development, infrastructure and environment.

In a related context, the Prime Minister instructed the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry to find urgent solutions to the needs of the Saar villages regarding services, a post-session statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr Yasser Al Nasser, said. The Cabinet, marking the International Women’s Day 2019, lauded the giant leaps and successes made by the Kingdom regarding its women empowerment programmes, which reflected positively on the status of Bahraini women at the political, legislative, legislative and governmental fields, among others. The session lauded the Bahraini women’s creativity and contributions to achieving sustainable development in the Kingdom.

The session endorsed a recommendation by the Civil Service Council, chaired by HRH the Crown Prince, to modify the organisational structure of the secretariat-general of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, through creating a director-general post, with the rank of undersecretary. Two existing directorates will report to the director-general. Another recommendation by the Civil Service Council to modify the organisational structure of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) was also approved. Under the move, the deputies of LMRA’s Chief Executive Officer will be reduced to three instead of four, and the number of directorate will remain unchanged, but some of them will be renamed or transferred to other sectors.