Bahrain’s economy posts solid 3.3 percent growth, lifting Q1 2024 GDP to $9.55 million

Bahrain’s national accounts estimates, issued by the Information & eGovernment Authority, showed that the real GDP of the Kingdom of Bahrain increased by 3.3 percent and the nominal GDP increased by 3.4 percent during the first quarter of 2024. The GDP reached BD3,610.8 million ($9.55 million) at constant prices during the quarter compared to BD3,494.8 million ($9.25 million)   during the corresponding quarter of 2023.

Sectoral performance

The estimates also indicated that the oil sector grew by 3.4 percent, while the non-oil sector grew by 3.3 percent at constant prices. Accommodation and Food Service activities are considered one of the largest non-oil activities, achieving a growth rate of 10.7 percent, followed by Financial and Insurance activities with a growth of 7.4 percent, then Information & Communications with a growth of 6.6 percent at constant prices.

According to preliminary estimates, the Financial and Insurance activities sector was the largest contributor to real GDP among the non-oil sectors, recording a 16.7 percent share. The Manufacturing sector followed, contributing 14.8 percent to real GDP.

Transition to ISIC4 classification

The transition to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, revision four (ISIC4) has been completed in line with local, international and regional requirements, and to keep pace with the global trend of implementing the updated version of the Standard Industrial Guide for Economic Activities issued by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This transition is expected to enhance data exchange and flow between different institutions, unify data interpretation and presentation, facilitate data processing, enable better local comparisons, and reduce duplication of work in the classification of economic activities, ultimately leading to improved accuracy and flow of statistical data.

Read more: Bahrain’s national non-oil exports reach $838.3 million in May

Expanded coverage, updated databases

Coinciding with the transition, the Authority has improved the coverage of the economic activities, which increased the GDP. Comprehensive and updated databases have also been prepared for annual and quarterly national accounts estimates from the year 2010 with the updated classification.

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