The Secretary-General of the General Federation of Workers Trade Unions in Bahrain (GFWTUB), Abdulqader Al-Shehabi, warned against the effects of proceeding in the policy of employing foreigners, indicating that the unemployment rate among Bahrainis eligible to work reached 20%.

The government is intending to borrow again from the domestic market by issuing development bonds worth 200 million dinars (half a billion dollars), despite the dramatic rise in oil prices.

Why is it that the Bahraini Finance Minister is talking about the state budget deficit while oil prices increased more than double the price set by the government?

The fate of about 1 billion dinars ($2.6 billion) from last year's budget remains unknown so far. Only the ruling family can answer where this large sum went.

Bahrain expects a significantly narrower budget deficit for the first half of 2022 due to high oil prices, Minister of Finance and National Economy Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa said on Monday.

Bahrain's 2022 budget will record a surplus for the first time in 14 years, supported by the increasing crude oil prices, a Kuwaiti economic report predicted Sunday.

Opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif wondered why public debt is rising despite record high oil prices.

Central Bank of Bahrain's data showed that public debt increased by 9% year-on-year at the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Oil prices increased significantly last year, compared to what the government adopted in the state budget, which raises the same questions repeated annually about the fate of the amounts collected as a result of the price increase.

A meeting of finance ministers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as the Arab Monetary Fund was convened to discuss the financial balance program, however, it didn't give out any concrete results.

Moody's Agency predicts that Bahrain will be able to increase the Value Added Tax from 5% to 10% at the beginning of next January, to increase state revenues by about 1.8% of GDP.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company's (Mumtalakat) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating at 'B+'. The Outlook is Stable.

Raising Bahrain's public debt ceiling to 15 billion dinars ($39.682 billion) puts further pressure on the country's public budget, while plans to pay off accumulated debts since Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa took office in 1999 are absent.

The Shura Council's financial and economic affairs committee recommended the approval of a decree that raises public debt ceiling from BD13 to 15 billion.

The House of Representatives approved (Tuesday, March 2, 2021) the State Budget draft for 2021-2022

Bahrain's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be gradual, with growth projected at 3.3% this year after a 5.4% contraction in 2020, the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday.

Bahrain will likely need further financial support from its Gulf neighbours despite reform measures, Fitch Ratings' lead Bahrain analyst Toby Iles said on Monday.

Bahrain sold $2 billion in three-tranche bonds on Wednesday, a document showed, after the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices exacerbated its fiscal deficit and pushed total outstanding debt to nearly $40 billion.

Minister of Finance and National Economy Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that the public debt interest in 2021 new budget represents more than 700 million dinars and will exceed 750 million dinars in 2022.

Cross-cutting sources said that the Gulf countries supporting Bahrain recently announced the postponement of a payment scheduled last September under the financial balance program.