Newspaper report wrong: Residents ‘on the rise’

Dismissing a report that appeared on Akhbar Al Khaleej and Gulf Daily News, the Interior Ministry Undersecretary of Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs (NPRA) Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has asserted that NPRA statistics show an annual rise in the number of residents from 2014 to 2018.

The last two years, 2017 and 2018, registered a growth by 3 per cent, Shaikh Rashid said. He said that this affirms the attractions Bahrain offers to expatriates, highlighting that the Indian community represents the highest percentage of expats among other communities.

He also revealed that the residence applications had been facing ongoing increase because of the attractive investment and business environment of Bahrain, in addition to its tolerance and cultural and religious pluralism.