Sisi, Bahraini King talk bilateral ties amid Manama’s financial crisis

CAIRO – 28 June 2018: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa discussed on Thursday the bilateral relations, amid the financial crisis Bahrain suffers from.

During a phone call, the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and other international and regional issues of mutual concerns, Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Radi said in a statement.

Both leaders affirmed that all Arab countries should knit together in light of the current crises that some Arab countries suffer, and which endanger the region’s stability and security, Radi added.

The call came after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait announced providing Bahrain aid to stave off its crisis on Tuesday; Bahrain suffers risks of devaluation of its currency against the U.S. dollar as its foreign debts reached $36.77 billion in 2017, according to the Islamic Development Bank.

It is also scheduled that Manama will repay $750 million worth of Islamic bonds maturing in Nov. 2018.

The Bahraini financial crisis date back to November 1 , 2017, when Manama asked for aid from other Gulf states to top its foreign reserves up to avoid devaluation of its currency, according to Bloomberg.