'IMF growth forecast shows opportunities in $1 trillion Gulf' - Bahrain EDB Deputy Chief Executive

The IMF has raised next year's growth estimate for the region to 4.2% - from forecast of 3.7% in July - and reaching 4.8% by 2014.

These findings are featured in the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, launched ahead of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group in Istanbul, Turkey (6-7 October). The report also forecasts 3.7% growth for Bahrain in 2010, increasing to 5% in 2014.

Dr. Zakaria, who is part of a Bahrain delegation attending the event, said:

"The Middle East still enjoys enviable rates of growth and as an economic powerhouse in its own right offers vast opportunities for foreign investment. The Gulf itself is a single market approaching one trillion US dollars in terms of GDP - the equivalent of India. People are now talking about China, India and the Gulf."

Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Bahrain EDB, recently told the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summer Davos in China that the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have a vital role to play in stimulating the next cycle of global economic growth. At WEF on the Middle East in May he had said it was time for the Middle East - and the Gulf - to take its rightful place in the new economic architecture.

Last month, the Executive Board of the IMF commended Bahrain's prudent macroeconomic policies and strong financial oversight, which it said had contributed to the Kingdom's robust macroeconomic performance and to the resilience of the financial sector. Particular praise went to the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) for its effective response to the global financial crisis; the CBB is widely acknowledged as the best and most comprehensive regulator in the region.

Dr. Zakaria added:

"In Bahrain our tried and tested regulatory environment and a commitment to international standards offer an attractive business environment for companies looking to access the growing markets of the Gulf and wider Middle East. Doing so from a single location has never been easier or more profitable."

Bahrain is the most established financial centre in the Gulf and has taken a number of domestic measures to strengthen the long term prosperity of the Kingdom and maintain the optimum business environment for both domestic and international companies.

A number of independent indices have acknowledged the Kingdom's strengths in the past year:

•Fifth most stable macroeconomic environment in the world, WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10 (September, 2009)
•20th best country in the world for 'ease of doing business' and one of only two nations from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to feature in the world's top 20, leading the way for regulations that enhance business activity, World Bank Doing Business 2010 Report (September, 2009)
•The world's best labour regulations and among the 20 freest economies worldwide, the only Gulf economy to register an upward trend, Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World 2009 (September, 2009)
•The best country for business in the Gulf according to Forbes' Best Centres for Business 2009 report (March, 2009)
•The freest economy in the Middle East and the only country in MENA to feature in the world's top 20, Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal's 2009 Index of Economic Freedom (January, 2009)

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives and academics to discuss issues of global concern. About 13,000 people are expected to attend this year's meetings in Istanbul which will focus on the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development and aid effectiveness.