Bahrain’s government has doubled last year’s budget for helping needy Bahrainis to BD52 million ($137.9 million) in the current financial year.

Speaking this week to mark the UN Eradication of Poverty Day, Human Rights, Social Development and Acting Health Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi said “the national strategies to decrease poverty and support needy families are being reviewed regularly.”

More than 13,000 families receive assistance from the government. Financial assistance is given to widows, divorced and abandoned women, and women married to needy non-Bahrainis among others. – TradeArabia News Service