Page 409 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

5
GENERAL REVIEW
The total revenue of the State during 1366 was 86J lakhs of which approxi­
mately 39 lakhs came from oil royalty, 35 lakhs from customs receipts and the
remaining 12J lakhs from income from investments, sales of land, oil gauging
fees and miscellaneous sources of revenue. Ihe revenue was 20 lakhs higher
than in the previous year and exceeded the budget by 22J lakhs. The increases
were in oil royalties and gauging fees, customs revenue and sales of government
land.

Expenditure amounted to 67 lakhs which was 7 lakhs more than the total
expenditure which was anticipated in the budget. The main reason for this
difference was an all-round increase in the cost of living allowances and in some
basic salaries.
During the summer of 1366 there was a certain amount of labour unrest
which was fomented by political agitators. The rapid growth of the oil industry
in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar produced a demand for almost unlimited
numbers of skilled and unskilled labourers and owing to the shortage of man-power
both oil companies and contractors working for companies and for the Saudi
Arabian government paid very high wages to the people they employed. Bahrain
Arabs heard that men who were doing the same work as themselves in other parts
of the Gulf were earning twice or three times as much as they received in Bahrain.
They did not compare the difference in conditions and in the cost of living between
Bahrain and other parts of the Gulf. The Bahrain Petroleum Company, the
biggest employer of labour in the country, granted a substantial increase in wages
and the Bahrain Government did the same.
There are in the permanent employment of the State, including the Police,
over 1,300 persons, of whom all but 111 are Bahrain subjects. These employees
together with those of the Ruling Family who are granted regular payments
from the Civil List received from the State Rs. 29,28,000 per annum, in monthly
salaries, allowances, etc. The increase of the cost of the permanent establishment
of the State which resulted from raising the cost of living allowances and from
adjusting many of the lower basic salaries was approximately 6 lakhs per annum.
In addition to this the rates of pay for daily unskilled labour were raised by Rs. 20
per month per head which caused a very substantial increase in the cost of all
buildings and public works. Unfortunately however the higher rates of pay did
not check the rapid flow of labour out of Bahrain to other States in the Gulf where
carpenters, motor drivers, masons, youths with a year or two’s experience in an
office and even inexperienced school boys could be sure of finding highly paid
posts. The cost of the administration increased considerably without anything
more to show for the additional expenditure.

Price controls on almost all goods except those which were bought with
authorised dollars were done away with during the year but this resulted in no
lowering of the cost of living. The price of many things such as local building
materials, fish, vegetables, lucerne, eggs, milk and poultry increased and because
the bazaars were full of imported goods, which people had learned to do without
during previous years, when they were not available, the cost of living rose. The