Bahrain’s economic growth ‘accelerating to 3.5%’: WB

Bahrain’s economic growth ‘accelerating to 3.5%’: WB

Emerging from a pandemic-caused recession, Bahrain’s economy is gradually picking up as pandemic pressures fade, the non-oil economy recovers, and hydrocarbon production increases, it added.

The World Bank’s projection comes just days after the Finance and National Economy Ministry forecast real GDP growth of 4.1pc this year.

Titled “Reality Check: Forecasting Growth in the Middle East and North Africa in Times of Uncertainty”, the new report forecasts an uneven recovery as regional averages mask broad differences.

In GCC countries, buoyed by the increase in oil prices, GDP per capita is projected to grow by 4.5pc in 2022, but will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

Citing official data which indicates that Bahrain’s GDP is estimated to have expanded by 2.6pc as of end-2021, after a nearly 5pc contraction in 2020, the World Bank said that the rebound was mainly underpinned by growth in non-hydrocarbons, aided by strong expansion in the transportation and communication sector – one of the hardest-hit by the pandemic – as well as increased agricultural and fishing activity.

However, the World Bank noted that over the medium-term, Bahrain’s non-oil economic activity will be dampened by fiscal consolidation.

The expansion of the Sitra oil refinery and development of the Khaleej Al Bahrain shale