BizBahrain Magazine Nov-Dec 2017

Focus Feature | Economy Review 2017
Alba Line 6 project - which is set to
create the world’s largest single-site
aluminium smelter. USD1.1bn is being
invested in the airport modernization
programme and a further USD335m
earmarked for a new Banagas gas plant.
Expressions of interest have been
solicited for the construction of the
King Hamad Causeway which will add
to the existing King Fahd Causeway,
connecting Bahrain to Saudi Arabia
and serving as a platform for the GCC
railway.
Active projects that are part of
the GCC Development Fund also saw
a further increase in their aggregate
value. The cumulative total worth of GCC
Development Fund projects that had
broken ground by Q2 of 2017 reached
around USD3.2bn. This marks a 111.3%
increase on the active pipeline from Q1
of 2016.
From the Bahrain Economic
Development Board’s perspective,
the core mandate has been to attract
investment to Bahrain in order to create
sustainable economic growth and high
quality jobs. The EDB has narrowed
down the focus to five key sectors where
Bahrain offers particular competitive
advantages and where there is strong
potential for growth: financial services;
information and communications
technology (ICT); tourism; transportation
and logistics; and manufacturing.
What links all of them is that they
are areas where Bahrain has something
to offer businesses - areas with a real
demand and factors underpinning the
growth in that demand in the coming
years. Looking to the future, Bahrain is
focussed on a few key areas to make
sure it builds on the opportunities
and maintains a positive economic
trajectory. There is a strong emphasis
on regulatory reform to ensure that the
business environment in the kingdom
is truly conducive to the formation and
growth of companies.
Source: Bahrain Economic Quarterly (EDB)
Despite increasing regional
competition, Bahrain maintains
its position as regional leader for
conventional and Islamic finance, and the
fast growing FinTech industry.
After weathering the tumultuous
economic environment and changing
regulatory landscape of the previous year,
Bahrain’s sharia-compliant financial
institutions continue to expand in the
domestic market and beyond, while
activity in the newly reinforced shariacompliant
insurance sector is well
positioned to continue along a trajectory
of premium growth, outstripping that of
its conventional counterparts.
The CBB and the Bahrain Bourse
(BHB) have recently leveraged the
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