RIYADH: Bahrain’s parliament on Wednesday approved plans to increase value-added tax to 10 per cent from the current 5 per cent, according to Reuters.

The Cabinet referred last September a draft law to the parliament, to decide on increasing VAT starting Jan. 1, 2022.

The  legislators discussed earlier this year the options of reducing wages or social welfare given to the nationals to bolster the economy.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, Bahrain’s budget deficit will contract by half this year due to lower oil prices and the coronavirus disease pandemic boosted it to a record 18 per cent of the economic output in 2020.

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