$400m FDI success

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) yesterday chaired the EDB board meeting held at its headquarters, at Bahrain Bay. During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince highlighted the key role that co-ordinated government efforts have played in attracting direct investments of over USD400 million during the first half of 2019, praising the work of the EDB and associated authorities in achieving these results.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to emphasize the importance of further advancing Bahrain’s economic position in line with the Kingdom’s comprehensive development, led by HM King Hamad. In this regard, His Royal Highness stressed the need to increase co-operation between strategic partners in the public and private sectors and continue creating job opportunities for citizens by driving diversification in the wider economy.

Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the EDB, presented the latest economic indicators monitoring the performance of the national economy. Real GDP recorded an increase of 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2019, largely due to the performance of the financial services, oil and gas, and hotel and restaurant sectors.

In 2018, Bahrain recorded a real GDP average growth rate of 2.5pc as well as 3.4pc growth in non-oil sectors, both of which were the highest within the GCC region.