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Bahrain Approves Four-year Action Plan, Focused on Private Sector

Bahrain Approves Four-year Action Plan, Focused on Private Sector
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Bahrain Approves Four-year Action Plan, Focused on Private Sector

Bahrain Approves Four-year Action Plan, Focused on Private Sector

The Bahraini Cabinet held Thursday an exceptional session, chaired by Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The session was dedicated to discuss the 2019-2022 Government Action Plan, which was approved and referred to the parliament.

The plan focuses on empowering the private sector, elevating the government work-environment, enhancing investment climate, cutting down expenditures, and exploiting water resources.

The government seeks to implement a four-year action plan that bolsters the Fiscal Balance Program launched in October 2018 and funded by Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait.

To ensure fiscal balance in Bahrain, the program grants the kingdom USD10 billion to achieve the balance between expenditures and government revenues by 2022.

At the beginning of 2019, Bahrain started applying the value-added tax (VAT), which is expected to add to the treasury BHD300 million (USD796 million) in this year.

Earlier, the Bahrain Economic Development Board forecast real GDP growth of 3.4 percent in 2018 and 2.8 percent in 2019.

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Iraq, Saudi, Russia Stress Need for Stable Oil Market ahead of OPEC+ Meeting

A 3D printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed stock graph and Opec logo in this illustration picture, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A 3D printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed stock graph and Opec logo in this illustration picture, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Iraq, Saudi, Russia Stress Need for Stable Oil Market ahead of OPEC+ Meeting

A 3D printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed stock graph and Opec logo in this illustration picture, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A 3D printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed stock graph and Opec logo in this illustration picture, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

OPEC+ members Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed in a meeting in Iraq on Tuesday on the importance of maintaining stable oil markets and fair prices, Iraq's Prime Minister Office said on Tuesday.

The talks come ahead of Sunday's meeting of OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, where OPEC+ sources say it will weigh a possible further delay to plans to raise oil output.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak attended the meeting.

They discussed "the conditions of global energy markets and matters related to the production of crude oil, its flow to markets, and meeting demand," the prime minister's office said, Reuters reported.

"The importance of maintaining stability, balance, and fair prices was emphasised, while stressing the vital role played by the OPEC+ group in this regard," the office added.

Russian energy minister Sergei Tsivilev and deputy energy minister Pavel Sorokin were also present, according to a photo posted on the X account of the Iraqi prime minister's media office.

OPEC+, which pumps around half the world's oil, has already delayed a plan to gradually lift production by several months this year because of falling prices, weak demand and rising production outside the group.

Despite OPEC+'s cuts and delays to output hikes, oil prices have mostly stayed in a $70-$80 per barrel range this year and on Tuesday were trading below $74 a barrel, not far above a 2024 low reached in September.

Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov told Reuters on Monday OPEC+ may at Sunday's meeting consider leaving its current oil output cuts in place from Jan. 1. The meeting will be held online, OPEC+ sources said.