Bahrain's economic growth rate will reach 5.6 per cent this year, driven largely by the expected normalisation in oil production from the Abu Sa'afa offshore oilfield, as well as planned expansion in the onshore Bahrain Field production.

That is one of the key conclusions of the Economic Development Board's first Year Book which was published yesterday, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

The Year Book is the first publication of its kind to be released in Bahrain and provides a one-stop reference on the Bahraini economy on the macro and sectorial levels.

It also offers a review of the economic development of the kingdom since the turn of the millennium. The book contains eight chapters, which are, Profile of the economy, Macroeconomic Developments, Financial Markets, Foreign Trade, Social Infrastructure, International Benchmarking, Individual Sectors, Appendices - Current and Potential U per centoming Projects List and References.

The book highlights the rapid economic growth achieved during the onset of the new millennium, wherein real output growth between 2000 and 2012 averaged 5 per cent annually, driven by high oil prices, growing government spending, a boom in property as well as construction, and high demand for private social and personal services, primarily private health and education.

It also indicates how Bahrain has been enjoying since a long time, a pioneering position in economic diversification, which is partially attributed to its relatively modest hydrocarbon wealth.

Nonetheless, the past decade proved transformative in this regard due to the rapid expansion of several sectors.

Under the rebased real gross domestic product (GDP) using 2010 as the base year, mining and quarrying, primarily oil and gas, accounted for 44 per cent of real GDP and 25 per cent of nominal GDP in 2000.

As of 2012, this proportion halved to 20 per cent of real GDP and 24 per cent of nominal GDP.

The book demonstrates that every sector, except real estate and mining and quarrying, experienced a growing share of GDP between 2000 and 2012.

Construction, transportation and communications and social and personal services experienced particularly robust growth, expanding at double-digit annual rates on average over the period.

The book further clarifies that despite the challenges created by the global crisis, Bahrain's economy continued to grow throughout.

After a light recovery in 2010, disruptions in 2011 constrained real GDP growth during the year, leading the economy to expand just 1.9 per cent.

However, clear recovery has taken effect since then.

Overall average real growth for 2012 was 3.4 per cent in spite of an 8.5 per cent drop in the oil sector due to maintenance in the Abu Sa'afa oilfield.

The resilience of the Bahraini economy has gone hand in hand with a track record of macroeconomic stability.

Recent inflation data indicates the average inflation rate for 2012 stood at 2.8 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent in 2011. – TradeArabia News Service