1

1

E-mail Article

Printer Friendly

Share Article

Bahrain economic growth slows

Bahrain's economy, the smallest among Gulf Arab nations, grew 7.1% in 2006, slowing from 7.8% the previous year, central bank data showed.

"Although Bahrain's growth rates have historically tended to follow international oil prices, the non-oil sector, which is estimated to have had a real growth of 8% in 2006, has been a significant component," the Central Bank of Bahrain said in an annual report.
It did not give a breakdown of which economic sectors spurred growth.

Economic growth in Bahrain, like other countries in the world's top oil-exporting region, has surged on a tripling of oil prices in the past five years.

Bahrain's real GDP last year beat the 6.4% average growth analysts had forecast in a Reuters survey in December.

Analysts expect Bahrain's GDP to slip to 5.6% this year as oil revenues fall or plateau with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production cuts, the survey showed.

High oil prices boosted Bahrain's trade surplus last year to 984.9 million dinars ($2,612 million), compared with 781.4 million dinars in 2005, the central bank said.

Total exports from Bahrain, which pegs its currency to the US dollar, rose 15.3% to 4.35 billion dinars after the value of oil exports, which account for 77.7% of the total, grew 18.4% to 3.47 billion dinars.

"The effective depreciation of the dinar... reflects the competitiveness and increase of Bahrain's trade in exports," the central bank said.

Bahrain's current account surplus was 721.3 million dinars in 2006, it said.

Money supply, measured by M3, rose 17.4% in the year to 4.89 billion dinars, the bank added.

No Comments