Finance
Reading the runes – what can we predict for Bahrain’s future?
O
ngoing changes to Bahrain’s regulatory framework, from the economic substance requirements touched upon in last month’s issue to the kingdom’s personal data protection law (the PDPL), are simply a window into the efforts that the government and key decision makers are making to establish Bahrain as the automatic choice for investors - both large and small, looking to establish a presence in the GCC. These efforts have been noticed: just last month the World Bank, in conjunction with Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (EDB), hosted an event highlighting Bahrain’s continuing and accelerating improvements in its Doing Business rankings. In fact, Bahrain was ranked in the top 10 of improving nations, with improvements
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Gulf Insider February 2020
Bahrain was ranked in the top 10 of improving nations, with improvements in nine of the ten metrics that the World Bank analyses. in nine of the ten metrics that the World Bank analyses, including getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The creation of an institutional framework
to register and regulate entities dealing with insolvency and bankruptcy can only make doing business in Bahrain more attractive. Even in the only metric where Bahrain did not improve – starting a business – it earned a score of almost 90 (89.6) out of 100. According to the EDB, Bahrain implemented over a dozen reforms in 2019 like freeing up business activities, abolishing minimum capital requirements, implementing Bahrain’s personal data protection law and moving business registration online with streamlined licensing processes and reduced registration times. The new trust law introduced in 2018, makes establishing trusts, including charitable and ‘purpose’ trusts, easier. Other laws simplify raising capital and establishing investment funds while new rules on crowd-funding like the Central Bank of
