Bahrain to issue $800m in bonds to finance national housing

Bahrain's Minister of Housing, Sheikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, said during an interview on CNBC Arabiya that financial institutions will issue the bonds in segments over the next six months. The Ministry of Housing will use the bonds worth BD300m to fund projects in the housing sector, the recipient of the bulk of Bahrain's capital investment budget over the next two years.

While speaking to CNBC Arabiya, Sheikh Khalifa said:

"We do not want to crowd the market too much, but Bahrain is considered to be a financial centre -- an Islamic financial centre specifically -- so there is a lot of potential to take advantage of in this market."

Sheikh Khalifa stressed that housing sector expenditures are a government priority and government spending is needed to break out of the global economic crisis. Bahrain's Housing Bank will continue to provide housing loans to citizens, using the same criteria applied before September 2008, he added.

"The Bahraini Housing Bank has more than 300,000 client accounts and no congestion problems. Our lending rule is very broad based, leading to fewer problems. The Housing Bank also reviews each borrower's financial situation with a proper, measured approach," said Sheikh Khalifa.

As the region's first and premier 24-hour live Arabic Business TV channel, CNBC Arabiya recently re-launched to include 12 new programmes. Along with a new programming schedule, the CNBC Arabiya re-launch reveals a brand new studio layout.