Subsidy Escapes Knifing!

Premier puts off meat subsidy revocation till October

Manama

 Adding a ‘twist in the tale’ in the meat subsidy issue, Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday postponed the plan to scrap meat subsidies in Bahrain till next month. Earlier, it was announced that meat subsidies would be revoked from September1.

 Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, who is also chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Financial Affairs and Spending Restraint, informed the joint Government-Parliamentary Subsidy Review Committee about the Premier’s decision to delay the scheme by one month for review.

 The panel will discuss all the plausible options along with representatives of Ministries and government departments, which are still supplying the committee with required data. 



 "The delay reflects HRH the Premier’s keenness on consolidating cooperation with the Council of Representatives and Shura Council and discussing economic issues and citizens’ standard of living," said the Deputy Premier as he attended a meeting of Government-Parliamentary Subsidy Review Committee yesterday morning. 


 The joint session focused on redirecting subsidies to benefit citizens, among other alternatives to address the potential financial repercussions resulting from the sharp decline of oil prices in world markets. 



 The Premier was reassured about the measures taken by Ministries and government departments to protect consumers and ensure free competition, once meat prices are deregulated. 



 The Deputy Premier underlined particularly plans to step up control mechanisms to protect the local market from any detrimental social or economic malpractices. 



 He announced that the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) would invite, within the coming days, people wishing to receive cash compensation to register online through the website or smartphone applications. 



 The database will enable the Ministries of finance and social development to fix the lists of eligible recipients and start cash compensation payouts in October. 
A total of 116,000 Bahraini families, who feature on the lists of the Social Development Ministry, and who receive aid under the Government-funded assistance programmes, will be exempted from registration as they will receive cash compensation through their bank accounts.