The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) located in Arabian Gulf, consists of six states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Over the past decade, the Gulf has become steadily more significant. Over the next decade, it is forecast to become even more so. The region’s growth and stability has already created important expansion opportunities for international companies - in the future it will create even more.

Worth $1.1 trillion, the Gulf economy is the size of India’s and its recovery from the global slowdown is forecast to be swift. By 2020, the region’s share of the world economy is expected to grow by 4.5%, and the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain - is projected to be $20 trillion, closing the gap with the world’s economic leaders.

Economic diversification

Governments across the region are successfully reinvesting oil revenues in high-value projects to diversify economies. For example, roughly $1 trillion of infrastructure investments are planned, which could shortly reach $3 trillion. Other projects span real estate, transport, telecommunications, education and training, healthcare and renewable energy. All these projects provide opportunities for specialist international businesses.

Furthermore, the population is growing fast and consuming more imports. From just over 28 million in 1998, the population stood at an estimated 39 million in 2008. Individual spending power is exceptionally high, with an average GDP per capita of $34,770. With little agriculture or manufacturing in the region, this is boosting imports - from food, to clothes, to electronics.

The wider Middle East and North Africa

The Gulf is also the ideal base from which to access the countries of the wider Middle East and North Africa. Many of these countries are pursuing economic reform policies that are already boosting growth. For oil-rich countries, this includes diversification programmes similar to those in the Gulf.

With our unique position at the heart of the Gulf, Bahrain is perfectly positioned for businesses to exploit one of the world’s most attractive markets.

Third party research below reinforces the region's investment benefits across a variety of economic and FDI indexes.

Inward FDI performance index ranks countries by the FDI they receive relative to their economic size. It is the ratio of a country's share in global FDI inflows to its share in global GDP. Bahrain continues to rank the 12th position out of 141 economies, ahead of all GCC nations. The Outward FDI performance index shows the share of a country's outward FDI in world FDI as a ratio of its share in world GDP. Bahrain ranks 9th of 141 economies, and is the second ranking GCC economy ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

 

 

The Index of Economic Freedom report ranks nations according to their relative freedom across 10 different categories. Bahrain tops the Middle East in its score, and ranks number 13 worldwide. Bahrain's economy is very free (76.3%) for a Middle Eastern country, with higher scores than the world average in all of the 10 factors of economic freedom. Business freedom, fiscal freedom, monetary freedom, and especially financial freedom are high. The complete absence of income or corporate taxes in all industries except oil gives Bahrain a global competitive commercial advantage.

 

 

The Global Information Technology Report (2009-2010) is recognized as the ‘gold standard’ for benchmarking the networked readiness and technological competitiveness of the world’s economies. Bahrain ranks 38th out of 133 studied countries. The Kingdom's ranking has improved by eight points since the last annual report. Bahrain ranks the 3rd in the GCC when it comes to technological competitiveness.

Indices Summary  

 

Index	Bahrain	Saudi Arabia	Kuwait	Oman	Qatar	United Arab Emirates
Inward FDI Performance Index	1	4	6	3	5	4
Outward FDI Performance Index	2	5	1	6	4	3
Index of Economic Freedom	1	6	3	4	2	5
Network Readiness Index	3	4	6	5	2	1