Bahrain Mirror: Chairman of the Shura Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs (appointed), Khalid Al-Maskati, expected that the country will witness other steps similar to that of lifting subsidies on meat in light of what he called "the economic variables witnessed by the world." He explained that amid the drop in fuel prices, Bahrain faces two options: Either "borrow and increase the public debt to levels that no one wants, or take difficult but necessary measures to reduce the debt as much as possible."

In an interview with "Akhbar Al-Khaleej" he stressed that "the public debt is a challenge that every country faces. However, the difference lies in dealing with this debt and the reasons that make you borrow. Tackling these two points open doors for you to reduce spending and variating income sources and implement other ideas to avoid the rise in public debt. I think that Bahrain has just started to seriously deal with the public debt after it exceeded 50% of the gross domestic product. This makes us face new challenges, especially that the drop in the prices of our main strategic commodity, oil, is not expected to rise in the near future."

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