General Information

The Kingdom of Bahrain, the smallest state in the Middle East and the Achilles heel of the GCC. Its capital, Manama, is the economic heart of the kingdom. Bahrain has seen the steady decline in production of oil reserves since 1970 and pushed to take steps to diversify its economy, in the process of developing products from oil processing and refining, aluminum production, hospitality and retail.

Bahrain's economy is closely linked to the price of hydrocarbons and recent price increases tend to reduce the public deficit and its external financial dependence, particularly on government agencies and donor members of the GCC. Bahrain holds a KIA sovereign fund worth nearly $500 billion. However, the decline in the economy continues to affect state budgets and its public finances and could, through a domino effect, impact its sovereign fund.

It is important to note that there is a difference with the West regarding the weekend: Friday-Saturday.