Bahrain expects a significantly narrower budget deficit for the first half of 2022 due to high oil prices, Minister of Finance and National Economy Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa said on Monday.

Bahrain's 2022 budget will record a surplus for the first time in 14 years, supported by the increasing crude oil prices, a Kuwaiti economic report predicted Sunday.

Central Bank of Bahrain's data showed that public debt increased by 9% year-on-year at the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Bahrain-domiciled asset manager Investcorp could agree the buyout of Italian soccer club AC Milan as early as this week, when an exclusive negotiation period with U.S. fund Elliott is set to end, Reuters said.

The price of Bahrain's crude oil, categorized as Arab medium oil, surged above $111 per barrel, which will provide the state budget with $16 million per day, due to implications of the Russian-Ukrainian military crisis on global markets.

Bahrain is considering hiring consultants to help sell stakes in some oil and gas assets, as it looks to open the sector to foreign investment for the first time in decades, Bloomberg reported.

Bahrain's Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa discussed with his Israeli counterpart, Omer Barlev, security cooperation and exchange of expertise.

Merchants and shopkeepers in Bahrain said that citizens intensified their purchases before the end of this year, to acquire a number of goods or buy devices and cars, days before raising vat to 10%.

The Emirati Ministry of Finance said that trade exchange between the UAE and Bahrain in 2020 was valued at AED20.1 billion.

Two leading Iranian banks have welcomed a decision by a Hague-based tribunal to order Bahrain to pay them more than USD270 million in compensation for its 2015 closure of a bank they had supported.

Russia Today published a piece of news on its website stating that Iran won a lawsuit against Bahrain which was fined 200 million euros.

Bahrain's central bank governor, Rasheed Mohammed al-Maraj, said in an interview published on Sunday he expects real gross domestic product to grow 3.1 percent in 2021.

Bahrain has hired a group of banks to arrange calls with fixed income investors ahead of a planned U.S. dollar-denominated debt issuance, a term sheet reviewed by Reuters showed on Tuesday.

Official data showed, on Sunday, that the net foreign assets of the Central Bank of Bahrain decreased last September by 6.17% on a monthly basis.

Moody's Agency predicts that Bahrain will be able to increase the Value Added Tax from 5% to 10% at the beginning of next January, to increase state revenues by about 1.8% of GDP.

Bahrain's delaying of its fiscal balance program, which pushes a zero-deficit target by two years to 2024, is unlikely to deter investors from buying its debt, amid expectations of continued support from richer Gulf allies.

The Central Bank of Iran announced taking legal action to file a lawsuit against Bahrain.

Once it recovers from the economic downturn instigated by the coronavirus pandemic, Bahrain will likely need "an urgent fiscal adjustment," Ali Al-Eyd, the fund's Bahrain mission chief, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Bahrain will likely need further financial support from its Gulf neighbors despite reform measures, Fitch Ratings' lead Bahrain analyst Toby Iles said on Monday.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Ares Management will invest £400m into the British-based automotive giant, Sky News reported.