MANAMA: Bahrain’s economy is moving away from dependency on oil, with nonoil products and services are now making up more than two-thirds of the kingdom’s total volume of exports, Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, chief executive of the Economic Development Board (EDB), said.
Sheikh Mohammed said recent EDB statistics showed that nonoil and services exports accounted for 73 percent of the total volume of exports in 2008, almost double from 40 percent in 2000. In 2008, oil exports accounted for only 27 percent of total exports, a decrease of 55 percent from 2000.
This change strengthens Bahrain’s efforts to make its economy more export-oriented, which will require private sector companies develop their export capacities, and enhance the quality and competitiveness of their products to increase the share of exports in the Kingdom’s economy.
Over the last five years Bahrain’s exports have sharply increased in both volume and values. In terms of volumes, the biggest increases have been in services and non oil manufactures, particularly in aluminum.