The Civil Service Bureau said that the number of employees in the government sector will be only 40 thousand after finishing implementing the voluntary retirement program, Al-Ayam newspaper reported.

Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan stressed that over 7000 Bahrainis retired in 2016 due to what he called “rumours about changing retirement benefits”.

Bahrain's rank witnessed a dramatic setback by 20 ranks in Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. It came in the 70th rank internationally, after it was in the 50th place in the 2015 index.