Bahrain-based expats to have subsidies cut

Expats living in Bahrain are to have subsidies for a number of services – including fuel, electricity, water and meat – cut as a means to reduce the burden on Bahraini citizens.

According to Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi, minister of state for information affairs, the subsidies will be phased out to offset a slump in global oil prices which have severely hit the country’s economy.

“The majority of beneficiaries from subsidy of consumer goods and services are foreign nationals resident in the kingdom and companies but not individual Bahraini citizens,” Mr Al Hammadi told the state-owned Bahrain News Agency.

There are an estimated 1.3 million expats living in Bahrain, all of whom will be affected by these cuts.

However, Al Hammadi did not say when these cuts would take place. While he did state that some form of cash payments would be introduced to replace the subsidies, it is not currently clear exactly how the new system would operate.