The economy of the Kingdom needs to grow by nine per cent a year, outside the oil and gas sector, for the country to achieve its Economic Vision 2013, said Mashal Group Chief Executive Dr Yousef Mashal.
In a paper that he presented at the competitiveness workshop held in Doha, he said, this is the equivalent of adding USD 10 billion to the Bahraini economy every year, while creating high paying jobs.
“There is a big gap between what Bahrain aspires and actual on ground. Removing the barriers is important. The government and the parliament should play an active role in stimulating faster growth in major sectors in which Bahrain can compete effectively and that can generate the right kind of jobs for Bahrainis.”
Referring to GCC, Dr Mashal said if the region remain dependent on the price of oil for its prosperity, the economic and social growth will deteriorate over time.
Based on oil specialist analysis, most oil exploration and development projects in the world, suggests that an unrestricted, additional production of more than 49 million barrels per day of oil is targeted for 2020 (the equivalent of more than half the current world production capacity of 93 mbd), he noted.
“On a country-by-country basis, the additional production that could come by 2020 is about 29 mbd and when factoring in depletion rates of currently producing oilfields and their reserve growth, the net additional production capacity by 2020 could be 17.6 mbd, yielding a world oil production capacity of 110.6 mbd by that date,” Dr Mashal pointed out.
“This would represent the most significant increase in any decade since the 1980s and in my opinion it will take the oil price to USD 20 to 22 per barrel as a maximum price,” he added.
