Bahrain’s Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani announced Monday a national plan to be implemented by the Ministry in cooperation with the Economic Development Board, Tamkeen, and the Bahrain Development Bank to develop the small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) sector.
Notably, SMEs account for about 30 percent of the Bahraini economy with up to 6,335 enterprises in the Kingdom.
Zayani said that the plan is in its final stages as the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism is preparing to submit it to the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Board to adopt it officially in the SME sector, expecting it to be implemented during the first half of 2018.
The new national plan for the development of the SMEs will include all the axes of work in this sector, including the legislative and applied aspects, Zayani stated, adding that it will also include the development of laws such as insolvency law and bankruptcy, channels of financing and encouragement to export and provide all kinds of advice.
He affirmed that the new national plan aims at giving small and medium-sized enterprises an integrated environment capable of providing all the reasons for its success so as to motivate Bahrainis and entrepreneurs from both sexes to shine in this field.
Zayani was speaking on the sidelines of his patronage of the graduation of five batches of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Program.
Jafar al-Sayegh, member of the Bahrain Economists Association, estimated the size of SMEs between 28 and 30 percent of the Bahraini economy.
Sayegh pointed out that the number of micro-enterprises in the Bahraini market is 85,000, while the number of small enterprises is 5,485, and the number of average enterprises is 950 while the number of very large enterprises is about 176.