According to the Economic Development Board's third quarter economic report, oil and aluminum are still the biggest contributor to Bahrain's gross domestic product and form most of the kingdom's exports. Despite little or no gains in Bahrain's oil production higher prices have maintained the sector's share of GDP at around 25% over the past decade.
Oil and aluminum contributed 31pc of total GDP or BHD 2.5 billion to nominal GDP in 2010. Bahrain has a relatively large trade to GDP ratio at 140pc as of 2010. This high ratio is largely due to oil, which made up half of all trade in 2010.
The contribution of oil and aluminum to trade is much larger with at least half of foreign currency earned from trade in these sectors. By including the contribution of oil to GDP, trade and indirect contributions, the total contribution of these sectors are estimated to be at least BHD 3.7 billion or 44pc of GDP in 2010.
Future plans to expand aluminum and oil production is likely to grow the kingdom's dependence on these sectors to finance Bahrain's capital account, remittances and net income from investments which have all been historically negative.
Alba intends to introduce a sixth production line and increase the output of the current five lines. Bapco is planning to build a new refinery and Tatweer is aiming to increase crude oil production by digging 3,600 wells in the coming 15 years.
Several sectors saw positive year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2011 including electricity and water which grew by 17pc, social and personal services by 13pc, transport and communications by 8.6pc, government services by around 5pc, manufacturing by almost 3pc and mining and quarrying by around 1pc.
The finance sector, which makes up around a quarter of Bahrain's GDP, grew by 1.7pc compared with the same quarter last year. The relative poverty line for Bahraini households defined as 50pc of the median income is BHD 463 per month in 2010 prices.
豫公网安备41010502003434号