Bahrain raids its future generations fund

Manama is drawing down almost half the assets of its Future Generations Reserve Fund (FGRF) and suspending further payments into the fund as it attempts to deal with a growing fiscal crisis amid a weakened economic environment and still high state spending.Under a decree issued by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 13 July, the government is to withdraw $450m from the fund. As of end-December 2019, the FRGF had $918m worth of assets, according to a statement issued on 6 July after the cabinet had approved the fund’s annual report.