Bahrain Economic and Strategic Outlook - March 2009 (Open PDF)

"Bahrain has recorded exceptionally high growth during the past few years. Since 2003, the nominal growth rate has been consistently in high double digits. Higher oil prices and huge liquidity in the region helped Bahrain to record robust performance over the past five years. During 2008, we expect that the real GDP to have grown at 6% as the region remained largely unaffected by the economic crisis during the first half of 2008. However, global economic slowdown coupled with substantially lower oil prices, reduced oil production and lower consumer spending has severely marred the economies in the region and this will impact Bahrain as well with the economic growth rate expected to come down to around 2.5-3.0% for 2009 with more of a downside risk."