Economy Bahrain posts budget surplus of $88m in H1 2022 By Reuters August 16, 2022, 5:28 AM Creative Commons Bahrain's total expenditure stood at 1.665 billion dinars in the first six months, an annual increase of 2 percent. Total public revenues up 52% year-on-year H1 budget deficit was likely to narrow on high oil prices Bahrain has posted a budget surplus of 33 million dinars ($88 million) in the first half of 2022 from a deficit of 520 million dinars a year earlier, the country’s Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The data also showed total public revenues at 1.698 billion dinars, up 52 percent year-on-year, while total expenditure stood at 1.665 billion dinars in the first six months, an annual increase of 2 percent. Earlier this year, Bahrain has expected a significantly narrower budget deficit for the first half of 2022 due to high oil prices. According to the International Monetary Fund, a post-coronavirus recovery got underway last year and the Bahraini economy grew by 2.2 percent, driven by a 2.8 percent growth in non-hydrocarbons GDP. Bahrain’s budget deficit narrowed to 6.8 percent of GDP in 2021, while government debt declined slightly to 129 percent of GDP, although this is still too high to be sustainable. The government has drawn up a list of strategic projects intended to catalyse over $30 billion of investments and a regulatory reform package aimed at supporting $2.5 billion of foreign direct investment by 2023. A sector strategy plan covering oil and gas, tourism, logistics, financial services, manufacturing, telecoms, IT and the digital economy aims to support annual growth of five percent in the non-oil sector.
