Bahrain

Although its revenues from oil and gas have fallen, the government of Bahrain is ploughing new investment into the kingdom’s energy sector in the hopes that the broader economy will reap the benefits in the years to come. This counter-cyclical spending is designed to allow a significant increase in refinery capacity and a more secure supply of...

The wide array of local and international insurance companies that operate out of Manama have flourished in a regulatory environment that has allowed them to serve the small domestic market while simultaneously extending their operations regionally. A history of sound prudential oversight has protected them from the series of economic shocks...

With significant expansion projects in both aluminium and power generation slated for between 2017 and 2020, Bahrain is investing in a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal that will offer these gas-intensive enterprises greater security of feedstock supply. Although domestic production of natural and associated gas increased by some...

It has been more than a decade since Bahrain’s Shura Council, the state’s main legislative body, first granted its approval for a compulsory health insurance system. The proposal came at a time when governments across the region were attempting to shift the increasingly costly burden of health care provision towards the private sector. After...

Regulators are encouraging mergers and acquisitions in Bahrain’s Islamic banking industry in a bid to cement the country’s position as one of the world’s leading sharia-compliant financial centres. At the end of 2016 the governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) repeated calls for the country’s Islamic lenders – of which there are...