MANAMA: The Kingdom of Bahrain’s reforms agenda initiated almost two decades ago has provided a strong foundation for the sustainable economic development, job creation and establishing a competitive business eco system.
This was the gist of a seminar held on Sunday jointly organised by the Kingdom of Bahrain and the World Bank aims at reviewing the reforms agenda as well as exploring new opportunities for sustainable growth.
Bahrain’s concerted efforts to reform its economy, took center stage during a high-powered discussion addressed by the public and private sector stakeholders.
The Kingdom of Bahrain’s reforms have helped the Kingdom in securing a place among the 10 top improvers in terms of ease of doing business, according to the World Bank.
Bahrain has improved its overall ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 index to 43rd out of 190 countries, up 19 places year on year basis.
The 2020 Doing Business Report result is a reflection of Bahrain’s far-reaching economic reforms, which include the introduction of 294 business regulatory reforms across the 10 areas measured by Doing Business from May 2, 2018, to May 1, 2019.
During the first panel Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism delivered a speech highlighting the salient features of the reforms. Presenting the views on Bahrain doing business reforms was by Dr. Rita Ramalho, Senior Manager Global Indicators Group, World Bank Group, discussed the global perspective in the Kingdom’s reforms project.
“Ongoing economic reforms bring competition and enhance the sustainability of entrepreneurial eco system, thanks to the vision of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The collective efforts of Team Bahrain have had led to the introduction of new initiatives and upgrades to the regulatory framework, which together are helping to ensure the Kingdom realises the promise of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and its founding principles of sustainability, fairness, and competitiveness,” Al Zayani added.
Other reforms discussed were strengthening access to credit by giving secured creditors absolute priority during insolvency proceedings, and subjecting creditors to an automatic stay that is limited in time with clear grounds for relief during reorganisation proceedings.
“Today’s event offers an important opportunity to underline the positive effects of the Kingdom’s economic policies and initiatives are having,” Khalid Humaidan, the CEO of Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), said.
In particular, he added, by pursuing flexible and innovative legislation, Bahrain is strengthening its domestic business climate and attracting many companies that in turn contribute to economic growth, creation of job opportunities in the local market, and the creation of value across the supply chain. Bahrain’s recent performance in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report is a major achievement and a clear endorsement of the progress we have made in just a short time,” he said.
The reforms such as expediting the construction permit process through the launch of a new streamlined online platform, Benayat resulting in an improvement of 40 places to 17th globally in the indicator for dealing with construction permits.
Streamlining administrative procedures and improving the quality of the land administrative system, which has significantly simplified the process of registering a property, improving Bahrain’s ranking by 9 places to 17th globally.
Allowing debtors to initiate reorganisation procedures, adding provisions on post-commencement financing, and improving voting arrangements, which has increased the Kingdom’s ranking by 33 places to 60th globally in terms of resolving insolvency.
Also, the interactive seminar was addressed by Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak, Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs who spoke on getting electricity and dealing with construction permits and Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer, Real Estate Regulatory Authority highlighted registering property.
The panel two highlights include a detailed over view of judicial reforms titled resolving Insolvency and enforcing contracts by Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs.
Shaikh Khalid said that Bahrain enjoys the best judicial system with strict system of check and balances by the superior judiciary.
“Bahrain has developed the best reporting system for the cases and ongoing reforms in all major dimensions of the judicial system will further reflect positively,” Shaikh Khalid added.
The Minister also talked about making and enforcing contracts easier by creating a specialised commercial court, establishing time standards for key court events and allowing electronic service of summons, up 69 places to 59th globally.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President of Customs gave a detailed account of reforms bringing a compatibility, efficiency and sustainability.
“The World Bank has selected Bahrain’s Customs System as a model for other countries which speaks volume of excellence Bahrain Custom has achieved,” he added.
Last but not the least, Rana Faqihi, CEO of National Bureau for Revenue spoke about the Kingdom’s unique experience of introducing tax culture. She spoke about the awareness of value added tax (VAT) in Bahraini society with 11 months of VAT introduction on and the Kingdom is ready to implement the VAT from January 2020.
