“The uncertain situation fuelled by the protests will have huge economic and financial impact on the national economy and will tarnish the image of the Kingdom as one of the rapidly growing economies in the region,” the BCCI in a statement said.
The small and medium businesses, in particular, have been hit hard by the protests over past six days in addition to the retail businesses that would continue to suffer because of general feeling of insecurity, lack of transport and traffic jams in the heart of Manama due to sit in protests at the Pearl Roundabout.
“The strike call from the Federation of the Trade Unions in Bahrain, which has 65 members, on Sunday will further aggravate and complicate the situation,” the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) in a statement said.
The BCCI, the largest platform of businesses with 13,000 members, on Sunday said that the strike call would further escalate the situation.
“This strike call does not hurt only the interests of the commercial sector, but the citizens and disrupting public life in the Kingdom. Since the last Monday businesses have had suffered a lot and the employers would pay a heavy price for these ongoing protests, perhaps serving nobody’s purpose including the protesters,” the statement added.
The Chamber said that all concerned quarters should pay a heed to call for ‘a dialogue’ given by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and the Deputy Commander of the Defence Forces.
“The residents and the citizens alike are suffering from the effects of the negative effects of recent events in the Kingdom.
“The protests have brought the national economy at grinding halt and the situation would impact the production and delivery of services and the provision of goods including the basic foodstuffs and consumer products to the public and consumers in general.
The BCCI said that number of workers affiliated with some national companies and private trade unions have responded to this call, which led to the stoppage of the functioning of production in these companies, and led to its inability to provide public service institutions such as supermarkets, hospitals and those other vital materials of basic consumer and food goods.
“The break in the supply chain, the accumulation of goods at warehouses, will damage products, materials and incur losses to business owners. The failure of companies to supply the materials to the local and other markets will lead to the cancellation of the contracts by the other side, especially in export markets which will reflect negatively on the ability of these institutions to continue to work and lead to bankruptcy and the loss of employment opportunities at their disposal, and impact negatively on the labor market.”
The BCCI called upon the labour unions to adopt responsible attitudes and urged them to make decisions on the basis rationality instead of impulsive.