Bahraini women's economic progress indices reviewed

Manama, Feb. 28 (BNA): A team from the Secretariat General of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) held a work meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation on the occasion of their visit to Bahrain to prepare the periodic report on the economic situation in the kingdom. The SCW team reviewed the latest statistics and indices of the Bahraini women's contribution to the national economy and the national efforts to back women's participation in this respect. They also shed light on the efforts made to integrate women's needs in development and achieve gender balance. They stressed the need to feed Bahrain's data page on IMF's website with indices reflecting the status of Bahraini women in economic participation, including the rate of their contributions in leading posts, entrepreneurship and the labour force in the public and private sectors. The SCW team also briefed the IMF delegation about the national mechanisms to follow up on gender balance. Both sides agreed to cast light internationally on the kingdom's gender balance experience. Both sides also discussed boosting cooperation with regards to initiatives implemented by IMF in the equal opportunities field. The IMF delegation praised the kingdom's initiatives aimed at rationalizing business regulations to promote development of the private sector, diversify the economy and create more job opportunities. The IMF delegation hailed promoting the opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to receive funding. They also lauded the recent labour market reforms to boost its flexibility and encourage employment in the private sector.