Bahrain

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Country summary

Capital

Manama

Borders

(N/A)

Government type

constitutional monarchy

Population

728,709[1]

Population growth

1.292% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

75.19 years[1]

Unemployment

15% (2005 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

13[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

46[3]

Doing Business ranking

20[4]


In 1783, the al-Khalifa family captured Bahrain from the Persians. In order to secure these holdings, it entered into a series of treaties with the UK during the 19th century that made Bahrain a British protectorate. The archipelago attained its independence in 1971. Bahrain's small size and central location among Persian Gulf countries require it to play a delicate balancing act in foreign affairs among its larger neighbors. Facing declining oil reserves, Bahrain has turned to petroleum processing and refining and has transformed itself into an international banking center. King HAMAD bin Isa al-Khalifa, after coming to power in 1999, pushed economic and political reforms to improve relations with the Shia community. Shia political societies participated in 2006 parliamentary and municipal elections. Al Wifaq, the largest Shia political society, won the largest number of seats in the elected chamber of the legislature. However, Shia discontent has resurfaced in recent years with street demonstrations and occasional low-level violence.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Bahraini dinar (ISO code: BHD)
  • Central bank discount rate: [1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $4.997 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $12.71 billion (31 December 2008)[1]


Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[5] 6 621 7 971 7 929 8 491 9 748 11 236 13 460 15 855 18 473 21 903
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[6] 23.692 29.274 30.686 32.065 36.873 34.409 23.640 19.227 14.747
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[7] 23.121 32.851 29.931 29.277 29.222 29.876 32.241 30.385 28.806 32.156
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[8] 24.073 22.630 23.595 26.192 23.708 22.670 20.541 19.013 18.828 19.038
Debt to revenue (years) 1.025 0.891 1.025 1.095 1.262 1.152 0.778 0.667 0.459

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Bahrain", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Bahrain", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Bahrain", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Bahrain", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  5. ↑ World Bank. "Bahrain: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  6. ↑ World Bank. "Bahrain: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Bahrain: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Bahrain: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.

Links

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