RIYADH: Bahrain’s cabinet has referred a draft law to Parliament which could see value-added tax (VAT) rise from January 1 2022, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
Bahraini ministers signed off on taking constitutional and legal measures to submit a draft law modifying some provisions of the value-added law to the legislative authority.
It has not been officially announced whether VAT is set to rise or fall.
However, a parliament source and another close to the local government told Reuters on Sunday that the Bahraini Kingdom is considering doubling VAT to 10 percent to increase the country’s revenues and reduce budget deficit.
Bahrain has the smallest economy of the six Gulf Cooperation Council members, and its economy is estimated to have shrunk 5.4 percent amid the pandemic.
