Growth in the non-oil sector of Bahrain's economy reached an annual pace of 4.7% in the first half of 2017, ahead of the 4.0% non-oil growth recorded during 2016 as a whole, according to the latest Bahrain Economic Quarterly published by the Bahrain Economic Development Board, EDB.

Non-oil growth in the first half of 2017 was broad-based with particularly strong momentum observed in sectors such as Hotels and Restaurants, Social and Personal Services and Financial Services, which all expanded more than 7% year-on-year in the period. Additionally, the Transportation and Communications, and Real Estate and Business activities sectors all posted solid figures.

Overall real economic growth in the Kingdom reached an annual pace of 3.4% for the first half of the year, which marked a small further improvement over the 3.2% pace of growth posted during 2016 as a whole. ?