Bahrain Mirror: The Shura Council Services Committee approved the bill submitted by the government to fund "voluntary retirement" from the Unemployment Fund and referred it for voting.

It is not expected that this legal amendment would face any obstacles during the vote in the Shura Council, which will guarantee to the government passing it smoothly, after it the House of Representatives (the first chamber of parliament) voted in favor, in a highly controversial session last Tuesday (March 19 2019).

The government referred the bill to the two councils as a matter of urgency. It was supposed to aim at raising the minimum and maximum threshold for unemployment benefits, but also suddenly included allowing the use of the surplus of the unemployment insurance fund to finance the voluntary retirement program.

The Shura Committee headed by Jihad Al-Fadel said in a statement that it discussed the bill in the presence of the Minister of Finance and National Economy and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor, and listened to the justifications of the government for proposing the bill.

The Committee said that it "found" that the bill "would push the initiative to reduce recurrent expenses within the general state budget, one of the most important initiatives included in the financial balance program, indicating its approval of the bill in principle, in order to achieve the highest national interest and ensure increasing the amounts allocated to the unemployed".

In its justification, the Committee said that the current phase "requires action to support the steps taken by the government to achieve financial balance and reduce public debt or the budget deficit, especially since the preliminary estimate of voluntary retirement results shows reduced recurrent expenses in the current budget cycle by an amount that exceeds voluntary retirement aid."

Arabic Version