The government, headed by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, approved the 2023 and 2024 budgets, and referred it to the House of Representatives for discussion and approval.

With the onset of 2023, the living conditions of the people of Bahrain have worsened, with high prices rising every day, poverty, no jobs for nationals, and very low salaries. Foreigners are placed before the people of the homeland.

A source in the Ministry of Finance confirmed to Bahrain Mirror that Saudi Arabia has actually stopped pumping cash into Bahrain since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report of the Financial and Administrative Oversight Bureau for the years 2021 and 2022, Bahrain's public debt and interest rates have reached catastrophic numbers. The report indicates that the government has turned Bahrain into a sick country addicted to debt and aid.

The big question remains in the minds of citizens: Why does the government of Bahrain continue to issue sukuk and borrow despite the high oil prices and the large amount of liquidity generated from the oil trade?

When it comes to adding taxes in Bahrain, it is only applied to the hungry and unfortunate, who are in dire need of a single dinar and struggling to live day by day, while members of the royal family spare no expense.

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.

Bahrain will need more Gulf support in the medium term, financial analysts say, noting that Bahrain has received more than half of the planned support in the financial balance program which the government signed in partnership with three Gulf states.

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.

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.

FlightGlobal website said that the Gulf Air appears to have cancelled the 10 Airbus A220-100 it ordered nearly a decade ago. Gulf Air had signed for the aircraft in mid-2011.

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.

In Bahrain, additional data and news indicate that the financial crisis has intensified as the government has asked a US company to review the fiscal balance program, the main plan for fiscal management, supported by three Gulf allies.

The story of the Financial Balance Program started in October 2018 and ended in October 2020.

Gulf nations have been putting on a brave face and touting the strength of their economies, claiming they can withstand any scale of shocks during the oil crisis. Unfortunately, a growing body of evidence suggests pretty much the opposite: the Gulf economies are in dire straits thanks to their overreliance on oil.

A recent report from the Central Bank of Bahrain predicted that government debt will represent 110% of GDP by the end of this year, with a decline to about 105% in 2021.

Bahrain's economy contracted by 8.9% year on year in the second quarter, government data showed on Sunday, as the small Gulf state suffered from restriction measures to contain the new coronavirus.

Luxury sports-car maker McLaren Automotive is considering a sale of its global headquarters as part of a refinancing strategy the company announced earlier this year.

Chief of Strategic Security Agency and King's son, Nasser bin Hamad, bought a horse worth over $3 Million, media websites specialized in auctions of selling horses and other animals reported.