Bahrain’s high score on a number of global rankings tracking the business environment, foreign direct investment and talent appears to have enhanced the kingdom’s appeal as a leading investment destination.
Sharing details of the country’s stellar showing last year, top officials from the Economic Development Board and the Finance and National Economy Ministry told a media briefing at the EDB offices in Arcapita Building yesterday that topping regional and global rankings has resulted from government initiatives to build a competitive business-friendly environment.
In 2022, the EDB, supported by Team Bahrain, attracted more than $1.1 billion of direct investment, a record year for the kingdom’s investment promotion agency. The investments are from 89 investment projects and are expected to generate more than 6,300 jobs in the local market over the next three years. The investments focus on priority sectors, including financial services, ICT, logistics, manufacturing, and tourism.
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Nada Al Saeed, chief of strategy at the EDB, said: “Bahrain’s rankings are a testament to its attractiveness to global investors looking to tap into our region. We’re happy to see the kingdom top regional and global rankings, resulting from the government’s continual strides to build a competitive business friendly environment and attract more direct investment into the country, in line with the objectives set under Bahrain’s Economic Recovery Plan.”
Dr Faisal Isa Hammad, assistant under-secretary for competitiveness and economic indicators at the Finance and National Economy Ministry, noted the importance of Bahrain’s first-ever ranking in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, which assesses the efficiency of countries in managing their resources to achieve economic prosperity.
He highlighted that Bahrain had been ranked amongst the Top 10 countries in 56 indicators that measure various fields.
The kingdom ranked first in Mena for financial freedom, investment freedom, and trade freedom (Heritage foundation – Index of Economic Freedom 2022), as well as economic freedom (The Fraser Institute – Economic Freedom of the World 2022). Bahrain also topped the GCC for effective regulations (The Fraser Institute – Economic Freedom of the World 2022), a testament to its forward-looking regulatory framework.
Additionally, Bahrain ranked first in the GCC for the stocks of inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) relative to 2021 GDP according to the Information and eGovernment Authority, which stood at 85 per cent of the country’s GDP.
It also ranked 11th globally for FDI Greenfield projects (FDI Intelligence of the Financial Times – Greenfield FDI Performance Index Report 2022).
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