• Home
• /
• Business

Bahrain Sets 2009, 2010 Budgets with $60 Oil Price

DUBAI - Bahrain, the smallest oil producer amongst the six Gulf Arab states, set its national budget for the next two years using an estimated crude price of $60 a barrel, the government said in a statement on the state-owned news agency.

Total revenue forecast for the two-year period stands at 3.733 billion dinars ($9.9 billion), with 1.836 billion dinars for 2009 and 1.897 billion dinars for 2010, according to the statement released yesterday after a cabinet meeting.

Expenditures are projected at 4.162 billion dinars for the period, leaving the budget with an estimated deficit of 429 million dinars, according to the statement. Oil income, which makes up as much as 82 per cent of the total revenue, is projected to total 3.054 billion dinars.

Bahrain, which has an estimated production capacity of around 190,000 barrels a day, will submit the budget plan to the country’s parliament for final approval, the government said in Monday’s statement.

Crude oil fell for a second day in New York on concerns that Opec’s production cut may fail to arrest a slump in prices as the global financial crisis threatens to reduce energy demand. The 13 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on October 24 to lower supply by 1.5 million barrels a day starting in November.

Crude oil for December delivery fell 15 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $64.00 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:46 p.m. in Singapore. The contract earlier traded as high as $64.96.leaving the budget with an estimated deficit of 429 million dinars, according to the statement. Oil income, which makes up as much as 82 per cent of the total revenue, is projected to total 3.054 billion dinars.

Bahrain, which produces around 190,000 barrels a day, will submit the budget plan to the country’s parliament for final approval. Crude oil fell for a second day in New York on concerns that Opec’s production cut may fail to arrest a slump in prices as the global financial crisis threatens to reduce energy demand. Opec agreed on October 24 to lower supply bymillion barrels a day starting in November.