Bahrain economy set to grow 5pc
Bahrain’s economy is expected to grow by more than five per cent this year.

This follows a growth of 5.4 per cent last year, it was revealed as the annual national accounts were released. A booming finance industry has taken over as the country’s biggest earner, pushing oil and gas back to third place, said Finance Ministry Assistant Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs Mahmood Al Kooheji.
Last year’s growth was down from 7.2 per cent the year before, but is still impressive, he said.
The GDP at constant prices increased to BD3.23 billion ($8.56 billion) last year, from BD3.071 billion in 2003.
The 5.4 per cent growth was achieved despite losing 11.2 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia, thanks to soaring oil prices and a booming finance sector.
The finance sector was the top contributor to the GDP last year, at BD783.35 million, followed by the government services at BD477.62 million and oil and gas at BD424.07 million, Al Kooheji said.
Finance contributed 24.2 per cent to the GDP at current prices, while government services contributed 14.75 per cent and oil and gas 13.1 per cent.
The GDP, at constant prices, has shown a steady growth over the past five years, from BD2.6 billion in 2000, BD2.72 billion in 2001, BD2.86 billion in 2002 and BD3.07 billion in 2003 to BD3.23 billion last year. The GDP per head in Bahrain has increased to BD5,855.16, up from BD5,289.85 in 2003.
“A 5.4 per cent growth rate is impressive, considering the fact that Bahrain lost the supply of 11.2 million barrels of oil last year from the Abu Saafa oil fields,” he added.
The GDP at current prices increased from BD3.64 billion in 2003 to BD4.13 billion last year.
The value added in manufacturing rose by 8.5 per cent to BD439.4 million last year, against BD405 million in 2003.
This growth was essentially due to the increase in value added in petrochemical, gas liquidation, metal industries, building materials and food industries. However, the relative contribution of this activity to GDP slightly declined from 11.1 per cent in 2003 to 10.6 percent last year.

Dubai non-oil trade to grow 64pc
Dubai’s international non-oil trade is expected to grow 64 per cent this year, according to an analysis carried out by the Statistics Department in the Ports, Customs and Free Zones Corporation.
During the first six months of this year, international non-oil trade showed tremendous increase, it said.
There are several factors contributing to this growth - the most significant being the booming real estate market across the GCC in general and the UAE in particular.
The exhilaration in the stock markets and the increase in the number of international companies that are making Dubai their regional headquarters also has a strong role to play, it said.
The number of registered firms in Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority) has jumped to 5,000 companies in the first half of this year.
The Dubai Customs statistics show that the emirate’s international non-oil trade jumped in 2004 by 41 per cent to Dh215.727 billion ($59.2 billion), compared with D152.064 billion in 2003.
Dubai also handled almost 80 per cent of the total international non-oil trade of the UAE.
After adding the turnover of the free zones to Dubai’s international non-oil trade turnover, the total trade reached Dh351.404 billion in 2004, compared with Dh252.072 billion in 2003 with an increase of 39.4 per cent, the study said.
There was a noticeable increase in re-exports, which contributed 26.4 per cent to the emirate’s total (excepting free zones) trade. The re-exports rose 51.1 per cent in 2004 compared with 2003 to reach Dh57.037 billion. Exports saw a remarkable growth of 45.5 per cent to reach Dh9.643 billion in 2004 compared with Dh6.5 billion in 2003.
On the other hand, imports increased by 37.1 per cent to reach Dh179.046 billion during the last year compared with Dh108.723 billion the year before.

Oman aims at 3pc growth
Oman is aiming for economic growth of not less than 3 per cent a year in the next five years despite falling oil output, reports said. The next five-year plan of the Sultanate, which runs from 2006 to 2010, also aims to raise the standard of living, create jobs for nationals and enhance non-oil revenues, Economy Minister Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki said in a statement.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew an average annual 5.4 per cent in the first four years of the last five-year plan, which began in 2001, which was 12.7 per cent above target, he said.
This was mainly due to high oil prices, which more than compensated for falling output. The country’s GDP grew 14.4 per cent to RO9.5 billion ($24.7 billion) in 2004, compared with a 6.9 per cent rise in the previous year, Oman’s central bank said. This was despite a 4.6 per cent drop in oil production in 2004.
The independent oil producer’s crude output declined to an average 797,500 barrels per day in the first four years of the plan, or 12.2 per cent below target, the minister said. “The decline in production was mainly on account of technical problems faced by Petroleum Development Oman,” he said.
The rise in oil prices boosted the average annual oil revenue to RO2.27 billion during the 2001-04 period.
Mekki said state revenue reached an annual average of RO3.22 billion in the first four years of the sixth plan, 26.5 per cent over target. Annual government expenditure moved up an average 16.1 per cent over target to RO3.20 billion.

The ‘wealthiest’
The world’s 20 wealthiest countries, based on World Bank Gross Domestic Product figures from 2004, are:
1. United States, $11.67 trillion; 2. Japan, $4.6 trillion; 3. Germany, $2.7 trillion;  4. Britain, $2.1 trillion; 5. France, $2.0 trillion; 6. Italy, $1.67 trillion; 7. China, $1.65 trillion; 8. Spain, $991.44 billion; 9. Canada, $979.76 billion; 10. India, $691.88 billion; 11. South Korea, $679.67 billion; 12. Mexico, $676.5 billion; 13. Australia, $631.26 billion; 14. Brazil, $604.86 billion; 15. Russia, $582.4 billion; 16. Netherlands, $577.26 billion; 17. Switzerland, $359.47 billion; 18. Belgium, $349.83 billion; 19. Sweden, $346.4 billion; and 20. Turkey, $301.95 billion