Bahrain MPs Back Permanent BD40 Pension Top-Up, Send Plan to Government

Bahrain's elected House of Representatives has backed a proposal to make an existing BD40 monthly cost-of-living increase for pensioners a permanent annual budget commitment, according to separate reports of its 3 November 2026 sitting. The proposal was referred to the government for further legislative processing. It is not a newly enacted entitlement or an additional BD40 payment on top of the allowance already being received.

The proposed change would preserve an increase that appeared in the 2023–2024 and 2025–2026 state budgets. Under the reported proposal, the monthly cost-of-living allowance would total BD230 for pensioners receiving no more than BD700, BD205 for those receiving more than BD700 and up to BD1,500, and BD115 for those above BD1,500. Each figure **includes** the existing BD40 increment; it does not add another BD40 to those amounts.

Akhbar Al Khaleej reported on 4 November that the House had approved the proposal put forward by MP Abdulhakim Al Sheno and referred it to the government. Al Ayam and the Daily Tribune's News of Bahrain independently described the vote and the debate over whether a pension-related measure belongs in the state budget law or separate social-insurance legislation. These are reports of parliamentary action, not confirmation that the measure has passed every legislative stage.

The legal and budget dispute

News of Bahrain reported that parliamentary legal adviser Saleh Al Ghathith questioned whether the State Budget Law was the proper vehicle for a recurring pension benefit, given the distinction between treasury-financed support and pensions paid through the Social Insurance Organisation. That procedural objection matters because a House proposal still requires further consideration before it can become binding law.

The same account quoted lawmakers arguing that a stable allowance would help retirees meet household expenses. It also reported calls to restore a previously suspended 3% annual pension rise. Those demands are separate from the proposal to preserve the existing BD40 payment, and the House vote should not be presented as restoring the 3% rise.

The reporting cited 85,607 pensioners in 2024, with 49% receiving less than BD600 per month. That historical distribution is context for the debate, not an independently verified count of people who would receive a new benefit under a final law.

What happens next

The decisive next records are the official House vote and bill text, the government's formal response, any Shura Council action, and publication of a final enacted amendment in Bahrain's Official Gazette. They will establish whether the proposal is adopted, modified or rejected, and how it would be financed.

For now, the verified development is the House's approval and referral of a **proposal to make an existing allowance permanent**. There is no evidence in the sources reviewed that a new BD40 increase has taken effect or that the government has already enacted the measure.