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Tuesday, April 23, 2024 9:56 GMT
Bahrain’s real economy grew at a rate of 1.58% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, marking a 0.57% increase at current prices compared to the same period last year, said the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) in a new report. The National Accounts for Q3 2019 report showed that Bahrain’s economy continued to grow at a steady pace during Q3 2019, as the data indicated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was supported by growth in the non-oil sector, which amounted to 1.99% and 3.18% in real and current prices, respectively, compared to the corresponding quarter of 2018.This reflected the diversity of Bahrain’s non-oil sectors, most of which registered growth, highlighting the strength and resilience of Bahrain’s economy, iGA said in the report. The preliminary data showed growth of educational services at 7.12% at real prices and 11.77% at current prices, followed by hotel and restaurant activity at 6.28% and 8.76% at real and current prices respectively.Transportation and telecommunications achieved a growth of 6.35% at real prices and 8.10% at current prices. Manufacturing industries increased by 4.08% at real prices and 5.29% at current prices.Comparing Q3 2019 to Q3 2018, the results indicate that private health services grew by about 3.20% and 3.30% at real and current prices respectively. Meanwhile, trading activity increased by 1.82% at real prices and 3.63% at current prices. Financial projects increased by 1.80% at real prices and 1.89% at current prices. The construction sector recorded an improvement of 1.46% and 1.03% at real and current prices respectively.The detailed National Accounts report confirmed that Q3 2019’s preliminary results compared to the same quarter of 2018 showed a decrease in oil GDP by 0.15% at real prices and 12.53% at current prices as a result of the decline in the price of a barrel of oil from the previous year. The report showed that government services recorded a decrease of 3.93% at real prices and about 3.12% at current prices, while real estate and business activities decreased by 6.96% at real prices and 3.16% at current prices. Social and personal services decreased by 1.44% at real prices, while increasing by 3.06% at current prices.Comparing the third quarter to the second quarter of 2019, the report showed that economic growth decreased slightly by 0.39% and 1.30% at real and current prices respectively, while real non-oil GDP recorded a decrease of 0.82% at real prices and 1.11% at current prices. The oil sector increased by 1.52% at real prices and decreased by 2.46% at current prices. The manufacturing industry also grew, reaching 4.54% and 2.12% at real and current prices, respectively. Hotel and restaurant activity maintained its growth during the current quarter, where the data indicating growth rates reaching 2.42% at real and 2.21% at current prices.Transportation experienced a growth of 3.64% and 1.12% at real and current prices respectively, while agriculture and fishing recorded an improvement of 2.94% at real prices and 2.71% at current prices. The activity of social and other personal services recorded a slight growth of 0.49% at real prices and 0.73% at current prices. At the same pace, private health services grew by 0.65% and 0.71% at real and current prices, respectively. Electricity and water activity increased by 4.28% at real prices, while reducing by 0.62% at current prices. Financial sector recorded a slight increase of about 0.62% at real and 0.49% at current prices, while trade activity grew by 1.20% at real and 1.96% at current prices.