COVID-19: Bahrainis exempted from power, water bills for 3 months

Cairo: The Bahraini government has decided to pay electricity and water bills on behalf of all citizens, the latest effort in the kingdom to mitigate the economic impact of the new coronavirus, the Bahraini news agency BNA has reported.

The move covers electricity, water and municipal fees for all Bahrainis in their first residence for three months, beginning October with the amount not exceeding the bills for the same period last year for each subscriber, the BNA added.

The government has also directed the Central Bank of Bahrain to urge all banks to postpone loan instalments for citizens affected by the coronavirus pandemic until the end of this year in a way that will not affect banks’ liquidity or their financial solvency, the agency said.

Bahrain has recently unveiled a $11 billion stimulus package to aid the private sector in grappling with the fallout from the COVID-19.

In April, the government decided to expand the package to cover more categories of workers affected by the economic impact of the virus, including taxi and bus drivers for three months.