Bahrain oil products to be excluded from VAT implementation

Bahrain will exclude oil products from a value-added tax (VAT) due to be implemented next year, part of an essential goods exclusion from the tax, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said on Tuesday in remarks carried by the state news agency.

Bahrain's upper house gave final approval to a draft law of the tax in October.

Introducing VAT at 5 percent was part of a Gulf Cooperation Council agreement in 2018, a big step for governments that have traditionally levied little tax and relied instead on oil revenues.