Bahrain Mirror: The King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa called on the government to take the necessary steps to achieve balance between expenditures and public revenues, as part of the "Government's efforts to strengthen the country's financial and economic capacity."

During the opening of the fourth session of the Fourth Legislative Term, held at the Isa Cultural Centre, Hamad bin Isa further called for increasing oil and non-oil revenues in order to attain financial sustainability, "consistent with the country's policies to diversify the economy."

The government, with the parliament's approval, has raised the public debt ceiling to 13 billion dinars to cope with the financial pressures caused by the decline in oil prices.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch report said that the Bahraini economy has deteriorated over the past period more than expected, as cash reserves have fallen, in addition to a rise in government debt.

Arabic Version