Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Ministry of Finance pinned the blame on the members of parliament and their "recurrent demands" for the hike in the public debt and the public budget deficit increase.

Concerning the decree law to raise the state public debt from 7 to 10 billion Bahraini dinars, the ministry said that "the public debt in 2005 was around 30% and action was taken to lower that percentage to less than 20%, yet the recurrent demands of the parliament for salary raises and its proposals that required financial costs were the reason behind the increase in the budget deficit every time the parliament passed a budget bill, which ultimately led to a hike in the public debt."

Arabic Issue