The Kingdom of Bahrain located in the Persian Gulf is well known as an international banking centre providing tax exempt status, an oil refining & processing centre as well as a significant oil producer in its own right for its small population size of 700,000. Oil production during 2005 was at 188,000 bpd.
Economic Statistics
GDP as measured by purchasing power parity stands at $14.1 billion USD (2005) with corresponding GDP/Capita at $20,500 USD. GDP at market prices comes in at $11.3 billion USD. GDP growth figures include year 2006 estimated at 7.1 percent, 2007 at 6.3 percent. Inflation numbers have year 2006 forecasted at 2 percent, 2007 at 2.1 percent. Other inflation quotes have 2005 at 2.7 percent, in year 1996 deflation was persistent at 0.2 percent. The current account is in surplus at $1.56 billion USD (2005), large trade surplus. Public debt is at 51 percent of GDP (2005), unemployment at 15 percent. Foreign exchange reserves for 2005 stand at $2.43 billion USD. The repo interest rate is at 5 percent.
CURRENCY: ISO Symbol ‘BHD’, Bahraini dinars, dinar. At time of review on April 20, 2006, the dinar had an exchange valuation of 0.377 BHD to the US-dollar (USD). The dinar is pegged to the USD (limited flexibility) at $2.652 USD to 1 BHD where it fluctuates in a narrow band since 1979. There have been discussions amongst six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) for a unified regional currency coupled along with the implementation of the Islamic gold dinar for commercial transactions among many Arab states.
CURRENCY HISTORY: the dinar was introduced in 1965 when it replaced the then trading Persian Gulf rupee at an exchange swap of 1 BHD to 10 Persian Gulf rupees. At this time, the BHD was valued at 0.47 BHD to 1 USD. Historical exchange valuations for the dinar include: August 1998 at 0.377 BHD to the USD.
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