DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain says Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledged $10 billion to support its island kingdom.
Bahrain made the announcement Thursday night.
The kingdom said it would restructure its finances to save $2.1 billion annually.
Bahrain, just off the coast of Saudi Arabia, long has relied on the largess of its wealthy neighbors to support it despite being the first Arab nation in the Persian Gulf to strike oil. That aid, however, has waned in recent years with a precipitous drop in global oil prices, and the kingdom instead began seeking more and more loans from the international market.
Bahrain previously received $10 billion in aid pledges during its 2011 Arab Spring protests from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc of Gulf Arab states.
