Manama, September 25 (BNA) The Vice King, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, chaired the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Board to discuss the latest developments in the economic recovery plan and the latest economic indicators.
His Highness highlighted the Kingdom’s commitment to enhancing competitiveness and providing quality opportunities for citizens, in line with the Kingdom’s comprehensive development under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
During the meeting, the Council reviewed the progress of work in the economic recovery plan and the positive economic indicators for the Kingdom. His Highness praised the Bahrain team’s determination to improve the Kingdom’s economy and the importance of economic diversification and communication with the global economy.
His Highness praised the Economic Development Board for attracting direct investment, creating opportunities for citizens, and enhancing the position of the Kingdom of Bahrain as an investment destination and an attractive business center.
His Highness pointed out that Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030 enhances cooperation between the public and private sectors.
His Highness highlighted the importance of developing policies and legislation that support the growth of the private sector as a major driver of economic growth and enhance development opportunities.
His Highness expressed his pride in the Bahrain team and stressed the importance of their responsibility to continue implementing the economic recovery plan and achieving economic sustainability and financial balance.
His Excellency the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, His Excellency Hamad bin Faisal Al-Maliki, presented during the meeting the latest developments in the economic recovery plan.
The presentation showed that 17 out of 27 economic recovery plan programs have been completed. This includes creating quality job opportunities to ensure that the citizen is the first choice in the labor market, facilitating commercial procedures and increasing their effectiveness, implementing major development projects, developing promising sectors, and achieving financial sustainability and economic stability by achieving financial balance by 2024.
The financial statistics for the second quarter show that the economic recovery plan contributed to achieving remarkable economic growth during the second quarter of this year, as real GDP grew by 6.9%, the highest annual increase since 2011. The hotel and restaurant sector recorded the highest growth rate. Of the non-oil sectors (18.1%), followed by transportation and communications (15.1%), manufacturing (7.6%), and trade (7.5%). The implementation of the economic recovery plan led to positive growth in the non-oil economic sectors.
The CEO of the Economic Development Board, Khaled Ibrahim Humaidan, explained the success of the Economic Development Board in attracting investments during the first three quarters of 2022. The volume of internal investment reached 33.5 billion US dollars, equivalent to 86% of the Kingdom’s GDP, exceeding the average worldwide of 47%.
Humaidan emphasized that the EDB succeeded in attracting $921 million in direct investments from 66 projects, more than 90% of the $1 billion target set by the board at the beginning of the year.
These investments will contribute to creating 4,715 job opportunities over the next three years in the fields of information and communications technology, digital economy, financial services, health care, education, industry, logistics and tourism, in addition to other promising sectors.
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