Bahrain sees real growth of 5% to 2010

Bahrain expects real growth of 5 percent or more until 2010, a government official said on Tuesday, adding that the Gulf island kingdom would proceed with expansion programmes despite weak oil prices.

"All of the essential programmes will go ahead, housing, social, infrastructure," Aref Saleh Khamis, under-secretary for the Bahraini ministry of finance, told reporters.

Bahrain has set a budget of 300 million Bahrain dinars ($796 million) for the next two years and that would "not necessarily" be scaled back if oil prices remain at current levels around $52 a barrel, he said.

"We have several ways of tackling our expenditures," he said on the sidelines of a Gulf finance ministers summit.

"We expect growth of more than 5 percent to continue growth until 2010." (Reuters)

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