gulfnews : Bahrain predicts economy will grow 5% next year

Bahrain's economy is set to grow 5 per cent in 2012 after slowing this year, as the government implements a stimulus package and receives aid from other Gulf nations, said Shaikh Mohammad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa, chief executive officer of the country's Economic Development Board.

"A lot of it is stimulus spending," Shaikh Mohammad said yesterday in an interview in Jordan. "It is our largest capital-expenditure budget, plus the money coming in from the GCC."

Economic growth may slow to as little as two per cent this year, compared with an earlier forecast of five per cent, he said.

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