108

Article 108 a. Public loans shall be contracted by law. The State may lend or guarantee a loan by law within the credit limits prescribed for the purpose in the Budget Law. b. Local bodies such as municipalities or public institutions may lend, borrow or guarantee a loan in accordance with the laws relevant to them.  Budget bills Article 109 a. The financial year shall be prescribed by law. Bahrain 2002 (rev. 2017) Page 26 constituteproject.org PDF generated: 28 Jun 2021, 18:28  Legislative committees b. The Government prepares the draft budget, including the state revenues and expenses, and presents it to the Chamber of Deputies and the Consultative Council at least two months prior to the end of the fiscal year. Following the submission of the draft budget, the financial committees of either Chamber shall meet in a joint session to discuss the draft budget with the Government, following which each committee submits a separate report to its Chamber. The draft budget is presented to the Chamber of Deputies for discussion and then submitted to the Consultative Council for review in accordance with the constitution, and amendments to the draft budget are possible in agreement with the Government. c. Discussion of the draft budget is on the basis of the itemization contained therein. A budget may be prepared for two years at the most, and none of the public revenues may be assigned to an expense without a law. d. The State general budget shall be promulgated by law. e. If the Budget Law is not promulgated before the beginning of the financial year, the previous budget shall be adheres to until the law’s promulgation, and revenue shall be collected and expenditure disbursed in accordance with the laws in force at the end of that year. f. Under no circumstances may the maximum estimates of expenditure stated in the Budget Law and laws in amendment thereof be exceeded.