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MANAMA: With a multibillion-dollar financial revamp in full swing, Bahrain is vying to maintain tempo with its Gulf neighbors after greater than a decade beset by political unrest. It’s a tough path for the island nation that could be a neighbor to gas-rich Qatar and linked by a causeway to Saudi Arabia, a key ally and the world’s largest oil exporter. The United Arab Emirates, one other regional powerhouse with well-developed commerce, tourism and monetary industries alongside its massive oil sector, is only a brief flight away.
Bahrain has witnessed turbulence for the reason that crushing of an rebellion in 2011 however has since begun a modernizing facelift, instigating financial and monetary reforms. Intensive land reclamations are actually altering the form of the nation, whereas a bunch of gleaming new buildings dot the skyline and cranes work above nascent housing developments.
The small, non-OPEC oil producer, is looking for to lower its reliance on its oil sector which accounts for 80 % of revenues, a lot of that from refining. “The ideas are clear: We wish to develop. We wish to develop sooner than the world,” Khalid Ibrahim Humaidan, head of the federal government’s Financial Improvement Board, advised reporters this month in Manama, the capital.
An surprising enhance might come from the announcement of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which Bahrain accused of stoking unrest through the 2011 protests. “In an optimistic situation, the Saudi-Iran rapprochement would collect tempo and create a extra conducive atmosphere for political conciliation inside Bahrain which in flip might derisk the financial system,” Gulf economist Justin Alexander, director of consultancy group Khalij Economics, advised AFP.
Bahrain, a monarchy whose cupboard is appointed by the king, boasts a wealthy industrial custom courting again to its days as a flourishing pearling heart. Consisting of 1 massive island and about 30 smaller ones, it was a British protectorate till 1971, changing into a monetary hub that originally led its neighbors by way of financial diversification.
Elevated regional competitors, primarily from Dubai and Doha, but in addition political instability and financial challenges, particularly after world oil costs plunged in 2014, have all harm Bahrain. In 2018, wealthier Gulf international locations agreed to assist Bahrain’s financial targets with $10 billion in loans, giving rise to the present constructing spree.
In addition to land reclamations for brand new housing tasks and skyscrapers round Manama, Bahrain is constructing diving facilities together with an underwater park. A brand new $1 billion passenger terminal at its worldwide airport opened final yr, doubling annual capability to 14 million passengers. Bahrain has additionally constructed one of many area’s largest convention facilities, aiming to draw worldwide occasions and guests.
The nation’s monetary planners intention to steadiness the nationwide finances by subsequent yr, with its Financial Imaginative and prescient 2030 targeted on decreasing reliance on oil and fuel and creating finance, logistics and tourism. Many guests to Bahrain stream throughout the 25-km King Fahd Causeway from Saudi Arabia the place alcohol is banned, in contrast to its extra laid-back neighbor.
Manama desires tourism to contribute 11.4 % of GDP by 2026, up from round seven % at the moment. Final yr, actual GDP elevated 4.9 %, the dominion’s highest progress since 2013, the finance ministry stated on Monday. “We’re assured that we’ll proceed taking place that path and obtain the outcomes that we need,” stated Humaidan, who spoke as Bahrain hosted its annual System One Grand Prix, an occasion it has held since 2004.
With a footprint the dimensions of New York Metropolis, Bahrain is a Western ally and hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and a smaller British base. The dominion of 1.4 million, half of whom are foreigners, enjoys a strategic location alongside delivery routes — making it an vital logistics hub, but in addition inserting it on the coronary heart of regional conflicts.
However after the Chinese language-brokered deal to finish Iran and Saudi Arabia’s seven-year rift, Tehran stated it could additionally welcome restoring ties with Manama. On the similar time, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, 53, who was appointed prime minister in 2020, is amongst a brand new era of Western-educated Gulf leaders positioning themselves as a drive for change. – AFP
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