Bahrain intends to transfer some of its assets from oil and natural gas to a proposed government fund, in which shares can be sold to investors.
According to ArabiaNet, Bahrain’s Oil Minister Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said in an interview with Bloomberg Agency that the government is working on a project to sell oil and gas shares, and it has been decided to move forward later this year.
The oil minister said he still had not decided on the assets to be located in the proposed fund and how they would be evaluated.
The drop in crude oil prices since 2014 prompted Gulf oil states to take unprecedented steps to open up to foreign investors to try to boost the budgets of these countries.
Bahrain, whose oil and gas are essential to its economy, plans to balance its budget by 2022.
Its deficit increased to 13% of GDP in 2015, although it has improved, and in 2019 it shrank to 4.7% of economic output from 6.3% a year ago, according to the Ministry of Finance and National Economy last month.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa said that the proposed fund and selling a stake in it would serve as a channel for private investors to enter in, which he had not done in the oil and gas sector in Bahrain before.
