Three urgent parliamentary proposals aimed at protecting citizens from rising financial pressures due to regional turmoil were unanimously approved by MPs.
The motions target bank loan deferrals, support for Bahraini employees in struggling companies, and safeguards for beneficiaries of the Mazaya housing scheme.
The first proposal calls on the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to direct banks and finance companies to cancel additional interest being charged on deferred loan instalments under the recently announced relief programme.
MP Mohammed Al Maarafi, one of the sponsors, said the current practice was undermining the very goal of the initiative.
“The purpose of allowing citizens to defer instalments is to ease financial burdens during difficult times, not to multiply them through accumulated interest,” he said. “What is happening now empties the programme of its real value and turns the benefit towards financial institutions instead of citizens.”
He noted that banks had previously benefited from government-backed support programmes and should now ‘play their social role’ by standing with customers rather than increasing their obligations.
“This is a matter of fairness and responsibility,” he added. “Citizens should not pay the price twice.”
The second urgent proposal seeks to include Bahraini employees who have never benefited from support schemes, as well as those who previously benefited but are no longer covered, within programmes run by Tamkeen Bahrain for companies affected by current economic conditions.
Parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman MP Mohammed Al Bulooshi said many Bahrainis working in impacted institutions were falling through the cracks.
“There are Bahrainis today whose companies are struggling, yet they are not covered by any support simply because they did not qualify before, or their previous support period ended,” he said. “This creates a real threat to their job security and family stability.”
He stressed the need for fairness in distributing support.
“The objective is clear - no Bahraini employee in an affected company should be left outside the umbrella of assistance during this period.”
The third proposal focuses on beneficiaries of the government-backed Mazaya housing finance scheme, calling for continued government support payments even if citizens choose to defer instalments.
MP Hanan Fardan warned that the current mechanism was turning instalment deferral into a long-term financial trap.
“When support stops the moment a citizen defers an instalment, the deferred months are later added as a heavy burden at the end of the loan term - often when the citizen has retired,” she said. “This defeats the purpose of housing welfare.”
She explained that the proposal obliges the Eskan Bank to continue paying the government’s share of support and interest to financing banks during the deferral months.
“Citizens should benefit from temporary relief without being punished years later with accumulated costs.”
All three proposals were approved unanimously by MPs under urgent procedures and forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration.
The initiatives as stated in accompanying memos reflect growing parliamentary concern over the indirect financial impact of current circumstances on citizens, with MPs pushing to ensure that relief measures translate into real, not deferred, support.
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