Bahrain in Business Reports
Advisors and business analysts can refer to third party research that reinforces Bahrain's investment benefits across a variety of economic and FDI indexes.
Economic Freedom of the World - September 2009, The Fraser Institute | | The Economic Freedom Index measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom. The annual report is published in conjunction with the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes. |
Bahrain has substantially increased its scores and improved its relative levels of economic freedom. Bahrain’s overall rank has jumped 11 places from 31st to 20th - marking it amongst the “20 freest economies” in the world. Remarkably Bahrain is the only economy that has showed an upward trend amongst the GCC economies covered in the report - UAE, Kuwait and Oman regressed in this year’s report.Click here to download report >
The Index of Economic Freedom - January 2010, The Heritage Foundation
 | | The report ranks nations according to their relative freedom across 10 different categories. Bahrain tops the Middle East in its score, and ranks number 13 worldwide. Bahrain's economy is very free (76.3%) for a Middle Eastern country, with higher scores than the world average in all of the 10 factors of economic freedom. |
Business freedom, fiscal freedom, monetary freedom, and especially financial freedom are high. The complete absence of income or corporate taxes in all industries except oil gives Bahrain a global competitive commercial advantage. Bahrain continues improving in its rank - in 2009 Bahrain ranked 16 worldwide and has improved by three ranks since then.
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Global Information Technology Report (2009 - 2010), World Economic Forum/INSEAD
 | | Recognized as the ‘gold standard’ for benchmarking the networked readiness and technological competitiveness of the world’s economies. Bahrain ranks 38th out of 133 studied countries. Bahrain performs comparatively well and showed tremendous improvement in particular areas - Labour Market (35th) compared to (64th) in 2008 and Higher Education (48th) compared to (54th) in 2008. |
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Doing Business Report 2010, The World Bank Group
 | | The report measures business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies. Bahrain ranks 20th in this year's rankings and is the first in the MENA region when it comes to Dealing With Construction Permits, Employing Workers and Closing a Business
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World Investment Report 2010, UNCTAD | | The report focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. The Inward FDI Performance Index ranks countries by the FDI they receive relative to their economic size. Bahrain ranks 23rd out of 141 economies in the World Investment Report 2010 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). |
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The Report 2009 - Emerging Bahrain, Oxford Business Group | | As the first Gulf state to come to prominence in the international oil market, the Kingdom of Bahrain was also the first to start the diversification process away from hydrocarbons that is now the norm in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This report is written by a team of analysts based on the ground for six months, and the result of numerous interviews in a various fields, the series offers an extensive independent, unbiased and accurate intelligence on Bahrain and its economy. |
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Economic Indicators Report - September 2009, The Central Bank of Bahrain | | The Central Bank of Bahrain's 'Economic Indicators' report presents data on a selection of key economic and social indicators for the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is issued on a quarterly basis. |
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Financial Stability Report - December 2009, The Central Bank of Bahrain
 | | The Central Bank of Bahrain's Financial Stability Report evaluates the financial condition and performance of financial intermediaries and markets, identifies potential risks to financial stability and proposes remedial supervisory actions for any recognized vulnerabilities. It is published semi-annually. |
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The Global Enabling Trade Report 2009, World Economic Forum
 | | The index measures institutions, policies and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to destination. Bahrain ranks 24th in 2009, showing solid performance across many indicators in the analysis. |
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Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, World Economic Forum
 | | The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development. Bahrain ranks 38th in 2009-2010. Bahrain performs comparatively well and has showed tremendous improvement in particular areas - Labor Market (35th) compared to (64th) in 2008 and Macroeconomic Stability (5th) compared to (20th) in 2008. |
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Human Development Report 2009 - Gender Empowerment Measure, UNDP
 | | Gender-related Development Index (GDI) measures the average achievement in the three basic dimensions captured in the human development index — a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living — adjusted to account for inequalities between men and women. Bahrain is leading the region in terms of building the capabilities of women. Bahrain ranked 33rd worldwide, 9 steps up compared to its 2008 rank. |
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The Financial Development Report 2010,World Economic Forum
 | | The Financial Development Report analyses the drivers of financial system development in advanced and emerging economies . Bahrain comes in at 23rd in the FDI and 2nd in the GCC, rising four places since 2009. Similar to the united Arab Emirates, its business environment (14th) is a strong advantage with a highly favorable tax regime (1st) and a low cost of doing business (10th). An increase in financial stability (23rd) is a key contributor to its increase in the overall score, particularly in the areas of banking system stability (3rd) and risk of sovereign debts crisis (22nd). This contrasts a relatively low score for currency stability , in addition to being stable its banking system is fairly efficient (14th ). |
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