An overwhelming majority (94.01 per cent) of investors in Bahrain polled during the first quarter of the year expect a stable business and economic environment.

The positive sentiment is captured in the latest Business Confidence Index (BCI) which is based on a business confidence survey conducted by the Economic Statistics Directorate at the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA).

The BCI has shown an overall increase to 103.84 points in Q1 of 2023 compared to 101.99 points registered in Q4 of 2022, which reflects a rise of 1.85 points or 1.81pc compared to the previous quarter.

Also, the index has shown a rise of 8.38 points compared to the same period of 2022.

The survey results also show that 49.35pc of companies expect stability in their business performance while 44.66pc expect improvement in business performance.

As many as 87.81pc of businesses experienced a range of economic stability to optimistic performance during Q1 of 2023, with 57.14pc of businesses declaring stability in their performance, while another 30.67pc reported satisfactory performance.

On the flip side, 12.19pc of respondents reported dissatisfaction with their business performance during Q1 of 2023.

The BCI is measured based on surveys carried out by iGA on a sample of the business community covering micro, small and medium enterprises as well as large enterprises.

It includes businesses that are classified as foreign and local investments with large capital and those which include foreign shareholders (as registered in their records).

The survey’s scope covers all active establishments registered at the Industry and Commerce Ministry as well as enterprises licensed by Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

The poll aims to provide investors, economic decision and policy makers with essential information and insight that help them to take key decisions and necessary actions.

BCI also helps foster business environment that attracts investments, reinforce competitiveness and business development through the availability of clear information on business confidence levels and other information related to businesses size, sector and investment type, among other metrics.

 

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