“There have been missed opportunities but this is the right time to redefine Bahrain’s role as a regional economic powerhouse,” Dr Jarmo Kotilaine, Chief Economist at the Economic Development Board of Bahrain, told a gathering of bankers.
“Bahrain has been pioneering country in many areas over the decades and numerous examples show that many initiatives those spearheaded by Bahrain have never been materialised but some other countries,” Dr Jarmo said, adding that he was confident that there would be no complacency following the challenges being faced by the entire region.
Referring to new opportunities he said that Public Health sector remains untapped sector which has huge potential which should be seriously looked into by the GCC or MENA region.
Dr Jarmo also stressed upon the need to attract major brands and said except few hotels chain and airlines the region lacks in having broad base of brands resulting in losing opportunity in this segment. “For this you need to be more creative and adopt best designing and this is very simple proposal to excel,” he said.
Citing an example of huge potential in clothing sector he said that there never been research to go beyond traditional dresses and share the multi-billion dollar textile industry by development indigenous brands.
Dr Jarmo, who has served as Chief Economist in one of the leading banks in the GCC, said that there was a need to add a new dimension to the development of the Islamic funds by taking the Islamic banking to the new heights of excellence.
Dr Jarmo was speaking during the Bahrain Association of Banks’ (BAB) CEO luncheon and during his presentation titled “Turning Regional Economic Trends into Opportunities” also highlighted the existing huge opportunities in the region.
“There is nothing stopping Bahrain to work side by side with Malaysia or other emerging Islamic banking markets. Such move will add a new dimension to the Islamic finance which offers universal growth opportunity,” he said. Similarly, he added, Bahrain can also find some grounds of shared benefits with London as nothing stopping us from forming potential partnerships.
“There is a huge potential of growth in banking and financial sector which is set to double by 2030,” he said.
About the MENA forecast, Dr Jarmo said that despite some pressures the outlook of the region would remain positive in 2013.
“Bahrain and being next to the region’s largest economy carries huge opportunities for businesses. In addition ongoing economic integration of Eastern Province and Bahrain will open up a new era of progress and development.”
“There are ongoing efforts for economic integration between Eastern Province and Bahrain but not happening rapidly as it needs infrastructure and other ingredients to be in place for any such move,”
He said that greater co-operation between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would help to remove the irritant such as regulatory harmony, infrastructure and common goals for shared benefits.
Dr Kotilaine’s also shed light at the GCC region’s demographic dynamism and resource wealth, which according him will go through a profound economic transformation in the coming decades as its global stature continues to grow. “This will involve a massive expansion of the physical and social infrastructure in the region as these economies diversify away from their traditional reliance on hydrocarbons. Areas such as financial services will experience particularly fast growth as financial intermediation converges with Western standards and new products are developed to finance investment and foster saving,” Dr Jamro added.
Dr Kotilaine outlined that how these regional trends would create a range of potential opportunities for Bahraini companies.
“Bahrain is a regional pioneer of economic diversification, as well as the most established financial centre in the Gulf. This track record entails a number of competitive advantages, above all the country’s deep and diverse pool of human capital. Given the limited scale of the national market, one of Bahrain’s key challenges and opportunities is to capitalise on these regional trends. This in turn can serve as an opportunity for a broader repositioning of many companies in a way that enables them to scale up their strengths in the broader Middle Eastern context and beyond,” he added.
He said that infrastructure development to be fuelled by the $10 billion GCC Master Project, the economy of Bahrain would benefit in 2013 and beyond. About Bahrain’s GDP forecast he said the economy would grow at 6.2% in 2013 from 3% last year, which said shows the strong comeback for the economy.
“The Middle East and North Africa economic outlook is positive for 2013 and the region’s economies would see major positive trends,” Dr Jarmo said.