Hassan Al -Sitry
The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, affirmed that work is currently underway to prepare a new actuarial study for the sustainability of pension funds, which will be submitted to the parliament soon, stressing that it will include recommendations and time frames taught in full transparency in the framework of a real partnership with the council.
He indicated that the actuarial reports related to retirement funds are periodically prepared every three years in cooperation with specialized international companies, according to what Law No. 3 of 2008 regarding the General Authority for Social Insurance.
During the session of the House of Representatives, the minister explained, in response to MP Jalila Al -Sayyid Alawi, that the authority is committed to the implementation of this procedure accurately, pointing to the importance of cooperation with international experts to ensure efficiency and accuracy in preparing these studies. He stressed that the government receives the results of these studies, and deals with them in coordination with the Parliament.
He praised the efforts of MP Jalila Al -Sayed Alwi and her interest in this file, indicating that the continuous cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities resulted in legal amendments during the previous actuarial session. However, these amendments did not include all the points agreed upon at the time, which requires continuing efforts to reach a balanced solution that guarantees the financial sustainability of the funds.
The minister pointed out that in previous sessions, recommendations that were able to be able to extend the life of the pension funds until 2087 were submitted. Nevertheless, after the deliberations between the two authorities, partial reforms were agreed that extended the age of the funds until 2034 only. He also stressed that the deficit between the obligations of expenses and returns is the primary factor for the decline in the assets of the funds, not investment losses. He added that strengthening investment activity will not be possible without addressing this imbalance.
In this context, he emphasized that the delay in providing technical recommendations from actuarial reports increases the complexity of the required treatments, explaining that cooperation and coordination with the parliament will continue to ensure the sustainability of funds and preserve transparency in dealing with all future reports.
In a related context, the minister expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the CEO of the General Authority for Social Insurance, Sahar Al -Mannai and its team in the service of Bahrain and retirees, pointing to her modern dedication to assuming this responsibility. The Minister affirmed that the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the king of the country, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Prime Minister, focus on the citizen as the true wealth of the country, noting that all government efforts and legislation flow into the service of integrating citizens and enhancing their opportunities in the labor market to achieve sustainable economic development.
For its part, MP Jalila Al -Sayed Alwi said: We are ready for any austerity solutions to reach the safe center, even if we put the stone of famine, we aspire to a box that we are strengthened for time.
In response to the question of the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Abdel Nabi Salman about the revenues of multinational companies, the Minister of Finance explained that the challenge today is to achieve diversity in the economy in the state’s revenues, there are 348 companies that have registered themselves within the corporate tax law, and there are global standards followed by the National Agency for Revenue to collect revenues.
For his part, Representative Abdel Nabi Salman stated that the tax is a representative and popular demand for years, and non -oil revenues must be raised and the tax is imposed in that, and the citizen’s pocket must be a red line.
In addition, the House of Representatives approved Decree Law No. 11 of 2024 regarding the regulation of the tax on multinational projects, aimed at providing the required financing to meet the financial needs necessary to counter the increase in public expenditures resulting from expansion in public projects.
