Bahrain adds $470 mln in coronavirus impact spending to 2020 budget

Bahrain will add around 177 million dinars ($470 million) to its 2020 state budget in emergency spending on fighting the new coronavirus pandemic, state news agency BNA said on Monday, reporting a royal decree. To this end, $450 million will be taken as a one-time deduction from the Future Generations Fund (FGF), a fund set up in 2006 to reinvest hydrocarbon revenues, and allocated to this year's state budget, another new decree said.


Reuters | Updated: 13-07-2020 19:48 IST | Created: 13-07-2020 19:48 IST
Bahrain adds $470 mln in coronavirus impact spending to 2020 budget

Bahrain will add around 177 million dinars ($470 million) to its 2020 state budget in emergency spending on fighting the new coronavirus pandemic, state news agency BNA said on Monday, reporting a royal decree.

To this end, $450 million will be taken as a one-time deduction from the Future Generations Fund (FGF), a fund set up in 2006 to reinvest hydrocarbon revenues, and allocated to this year's state budget, another new decree said. The decrees also announced a temporary halt to the allocation of oil revenues to the FGF until the end of 2020.

The small oil producing Gulf state was bailed out in 2018 with a $10 billion aid package from wealthy Gulf neighbours to avoid a credit crunch and has been working to plug its budget deficit. Bahrain has reported just under 33,000 cases of infection with the coronavirus and 108 deaths.

($1 = 0.3770 Bahraini dinars) (Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Toby Chopra, William Maclean)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback