The Middle East

As Bahrain marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the King Fahd Causeway linking it to Saudi Arabia, the country’s transport sector is gearing up for expansion in both the short and medium term. GCC funds are being used to complete upgrades to the road network and airport facilities, while the government is investing in infrastructure improvements and new public...

The transport sector is set to be one of the major recipients of investment from a $10bn GCC fund announced to help Bahrain after a GCC meeting in Riyadh in 2011. Four years later, the country’s wealthy neighbours Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE began to supply the money for substantial transport projects, and contractors broke ground on the...

Since August 2015, red single-decker buses have become increasingly common in Bahrain as the Public Transport Network (PTN), launched four months earlier, expanded to 32 routes to cover 77% of the population. The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT) declared the event a “key milestone” in the development of an integrated public...

The rapid growth in Bahrain’s population presents considerable challenges for the private and state providers supplying utilities. As well as routine work to replace, refurbish and improve existing power, water and sewage networks, providers are also required to expand their networks to serve new communities that are being constructed. Even as...

The composition of Bahrain’s GDP compared to the five other GCC member countries, shows that while the energy sector remains the single largest contributor to national production, at just under a quarter of GDP, Bahrain is leading the way on economic diversification. An IMF discussion paper on economic diversification in GCC countries,...