Mr. Joseph Rizzo
General Manager - General Insurance Department
Bahrain National InsuranceBefore




1. What is your outlook on the state of the regional economy? When will we start to see recovery?

It is unfortunate that the Gulf region does not have a central body which compiles and accumulates economic, financial and social statistics on say a quarterly basis. In the absence of such regional tools as retail and property price indexes, labour market statistics and other economic indictors one can only fall back on perception which is very subjective. This is evident by what we are reading in the media. The messages we get most of the time, with good intentions, depends on what the author wants his audience to believe which might not necessarily be the true correct and accurate picture but merely an interpretation.
The Gulf region has a strong economy and but this I mean that the fundamentals are very strong certainly in the short to medium term. This is because the economy is based on oil and energy and therefore driven by the global demand and price of this commodity. The region has also a good vision for the longer term and one can clearly see the diversification of the economy in most GCC states with Bahrain being in the forefront especially on the financial services sector. The regional economies are very well diversified and offer a good balance of commercial, industrial and financial sector development to compliment the primary industry sector. Regions like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been hit but effected to a lesser extent by the global economic downturn because if its well diversified and strong industrial and secondary industry sector apart from being a large producer in the primary sector of oil. Dubai, on the other hand, has been effected worse as it happened to be passing through a phase when the economy was heavily dependent on the tertiary sector which is where the problems started. The rate of growth in Dubai was however phenomenal and the effect was to cut back the rate of growth rather than the growth itself. I feel that all the region will regain and maintain its economic stability in the very short term although not peaking as to the extent that it was before the economic downturn but still considered an area of attractive potential investment opportunities. Bahrain has always been the forerunner in many respects and still offers the best location for many obvious reasons such as experienced, diligent and proactive regulators with a mind of international openness.

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