Bahrain MPs to vote on unemployment insurance

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Parliamentarians are to vote on a draft law amending the Unemployment Insurance Law to pay 50 per cent of the wages of insured Bahraini workers impacted by the pandemic, starting October 2020.

The payment will benefit companies most affected by the repercussion of COVID-19 pandemic. The move is as per the Social Insurance Law promulgated by Decree-Law No. (24) of 1976.

Three months’ wages will be paid to workers, starting in October 2020, said the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

The Public Authority for Social Insurance said the unemployment insurance account surplus amounted to BD488,376,881 until September 2020.

The amount to be disbursed reaches BD6,553,576 in October, BD6,439,050 in November, and BD6,422,934 in December. The authority said it paid unemployment insurance to 569,479 beneficiaries in 2020.

The annual amount paid by the Labour Fund and the government to the unemployment insurance account reached BD59,285,366 in 2018 and BD238,59,530 in 2019.

The amount paid until October 2020 is BD28,996,807. The Ministry of Finance said that the decree aims to enhance the ability of business owners to overcome the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.