The Ministry of Finance and National Economy announced today the release of Bahrain’s Economic Quarterly Report for Q3 2024, now available on its official website, www.mofne.gov.bh.
According to preliminary data from the Information and eGovernment Authority, Bahrain’s real GDP grew by 2.1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024. This growth was supported by a 3.9% increase in non-oil activities, while oil sector activities contracted by 8.1%. In nominal terms, GDP declined by 0.9% during the same period due to a 14.1% drop in oil sector output, although non-oil activities grew by 1.5%.
The report highlighted the significant contribution of non-oil activities to economic growth, accounting for 86.4% of real GDP during Q3 2024. Among these sectors, the information and telecommunications technology sector achieved the highest growth rate of 11.9% year-on-year, followed by business activities at 8.1%, public administration at 5.9%, financial and insurance activities at 5.8%, and manufacturing at 4.2%. Additionally, the wholesale and retail trade sector grew by 2.1%, while the construction sector recorded slight growth of 0.4%
.
Foreign direct investment into Bahrain also increased, with the total value rising by 3.5% year-on-year in Q3 2024, bringing the cumulative stock to BHD 16.5 billion.
The report further highlighted Bahrain’s strong performance in global competitiveness indices. The Kingdom maintained its position as the freest economy in the Arab world, as ranked in the Economic Freedom of the World Report 2024 by the Fraser Institute. Bahrain also retained its first-place position in the GCC in the 2024 Basel AML Index for combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Additionally, Bahrain advanced eight spots to rank 30th globally in the 2024 IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking.
This report underscores the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to drive sustainable economic growth through diversification and innovation.
BNA(R)
