Bahrain's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be gradual, with growth projected at 3.3% this year after a 5.4% contraction in 2020, the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday.

Bahrain will likely need further financial support from its Gulf neighbours despite reform measures, Fitch Ratings' lead Bahrain analyst Toby Iles said on Monday.

Minister of Finance and National Economy Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that the public debt interest in 2021 new budget represents more than 700 million dinars and will exceed 750 million dinars in 2022.

Bahrain's real gross domestic product declined by 6.9% year on year in the third quarter of 2020, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

FlightGlobal website said that the Gulf Air appears to have cancelled the 10 Airbus A220-100 it ordered nearly a decade ago. Gulf Air had signed for the aircraft in mid-2011.

Cross-cutting sources said that the Gulf countries supporting Bahrain recently announced the postponement of a payment scheduled last September under the financial balance program.

Minister of Finance Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that the government will implement projects worth $782.4 million within the two coming years, among the last batch of Gulf development program "Gulf Marshal" that was approved for the island kingdom in 2011. The projects will include vital sectors.

Bahrain's public debt will reach 131% of GDP next year, according to new figures published by "The Economist".

The Bahraini Cabinet announced on Monday extending the 50% wage support of citizens working in the sectors affected with Coronavirus until the end of this year.

Gulf nations have been putting on a brave face and touting the strength of their economies, claiming they can withstand any scale of shocks during the oil crisis. Unfortunately, a growing body of evidence suggests pretty much the opposite: the Gulf economies are in dire straits thanks to their overreliance on oil.

A recent report from the Central Bank of Bahrain predicted that government debt will represent 110% of GDP by the end of this year, with a decline to about 105% in 2021.

Bahrain's economy contracted by 8.9% year on year in the second quarter, government data showed on Sunday, as the small Gulf state suffered from restriction measures to contain the new coronavirus.

Bahrain's Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has issued an edict suspending the license given to GG Developers SPC, the developer of Golden Gate project, due to the violations it committed.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded National Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C.'s (BBK) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B+' from 'BB-'. The Outlook is Stable.

Luxury sports-car maker McLaren Automotive is considering a sale of its global headquarters as part of a refinancing strategy the company announced earlier this year.

Bahrain sold $2 billion in a dual-tranche bond deal comprising seven-year sukuk and 12-year conventional bonds on Wednesday, its second international debt sale this year, a document showed.

Bahrain is planning to return to the dollar bond market, according to people familiar with the matter, as the country faces one of the world's biggest budget deficits this year, Bloomberg website stated.

McLaren's half-year financial statements showed that 653,651 shares were issued at £229.48 per share, with a total value of £150 million, in return of a loan from the National Bank of Bahrain. McLaren recorded the value of the loan in the company's equity clause.

Bahrain-based financial group GFH said in a statement that it had raised its stake in Global Bank to 50.4 percent from 28.6 percent after Bahrain's central bank agreed to increase its stake to as much as 60 percent.

Bahrain's government has raised its debt ceiling to 15 billion dinars ($39.79 billion) from 13 billion dinars to help finance public spending, the cabinet said Monday, as low oil prices and the coronavirus crisis have dented state revenues.