An air of normality has returned to Bahrain’s central business district and the government is keen to focus on positive matters. But violent protests continue and, as events this week have demonstrated, political reform and economic progress still face severe obstacles.
On Monday, official statistics showed the economy slowed sharply in the second quarter. Adjusted for inflation, GDP fell 1.3 per cent between the first and second quarters after growing 0.9 per cent during the last quarter of 2011. It was the first quarterly decline since the pro-democracy demonstrations of February 2011 caused a 6.6 per cent slump in output.
Compared with the same quarter last year, GDP grew 4.3 per cent, after growing 5.9 per cent in the first quarter compared with the unrest-blighted first quarter of 2011.
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