Bahrain Mirror: Member of the Finance and Economic Committee, MP Ahmed Al-Salloum, revealed that the total profits of Bahraini companies that "Mumtalakat" owns shares in their capital amounted to BD 212 million, according to what Minister of Communication and Telecommunications Kamel Ahmed said during his meeting with the joint committee between the House of Representatives and Shura Council on Wednesday (April 3, 2019).

Al-Salloum explained in a statement to a local newspaper that Mumtalakat share of the profits of the companies in which it contributes reaches BD 70 million.

An economic study conducted in 2017 urged the government to liquidate Mumtalakat due to the its accumulated debts, which according to the study raises the government's debts if included in the general budget.

The study pointed out that the profits of the company were not included in the state budget because they were earmarked to finance the losses of government business enterprises, mainly Gulf Air. Mumtalakat has achieved in the past few years net profits, and it has been decided to include a portion of its profits (10 million dinars) in public revenues as of 2017.

The study said Bahraini financial authorities should study the "abandonment of their sovereign fund, as it is better to make use of its capital to deal with the current deteriorating financial situation, which is moving towards what is worse in the future."

Mumtalakat has stakes in about 40 businesses. It owns Gulf Air and owns a large percentage of the Bahrain Aluminium Company shares as well as the National Bank of Bahrain. It has a capital of $10.6 billion.

Arabic Version