Page 11 - Records of Bahrain (5) (ii)_Neat

Revenue-expenditure budgets 333

•• ?|neiMNCY.
An • 3C^
Confidential.
, r0l2.__Ii(lv/l3__j
D.0.No:C/53. j OOHUOtMIAl Mim jPolitioal Agency,
Bahrain,the 6th February 1933.

I enclose a copy ol* a demi-official letter,No:957
dated the 11th January 1933,from Belgrave regarding the
Finances of Bahrain.

2. Belgrave has had certain conversations with His
Excellency Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah,but the month of
Raraadhan has precluded any serious discussion of the situation.
3. The death of the late Ruler has eased the situation

and should considerably reduce the deficit,even if the whole of
the allowance is not allowed to lapse.
4. There seems little reason to doubt that an oil field
will be developed,and we may,therefore,reasonably hope for an
income to the State from royalties in the not too distant future.
financial
If Bahrain gets royalties,the pgraiaftwU- position will be assured.
If Bahrain does not get royalties,something much more drastic

than it is possible to suggest at present may have to be done.
There are slight signs,moreover,of an improvement in trade.
5. I think,however,that at present we should assume that
Bahrain may expect an income from oil and also from an improve­

ment in trade,and that we should avoid,so far as possible,argument
about the small economies: that small deficits for the next two oij
I
three years should be met from the reserve: and that,in the mean- j
time,we should concentrate on the all important question of trying'
to get the Ruler and the Al Khalifah to accept a reasonable

sliding scale for the Civil List.
(6).