Bahrain – The Kingdom of Bahrain

Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a Persian Gulf republic. Bahrain is made up of 51 natural and artificial islands. The nation is located between the Qatari peninsula and Saudi Arabia’s northwestern coast. It share its borders with these two countries. Bahrain’s population in 2020 is expected to be 1,701,575. Its based on the 2010 census.. It is Asia’s third smallest nation. it comes after Maldives and Singapore. Manama is the country’s capital and largest city. The ancient Dilmun culture flourished in Bahrain. The country is known for pearl fisheries since ancient times. They were considered the best in the world until 19th century. During the Prophet Muhammad’s lifetime, in 628 CE, Bahrain was one of the first places to convert to Islam.

Bahrain has the Arab world’s fastest-growing economy. Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East and is the world’s twelfth-freest overall, according to the Heritage Foundation’s 2011 Index of Economic Freedom. The City of London’s Global Financial Centre’s Index rated Bahrain the world’s fastest-growing financial Centre in 2008. The banking and financial services sector in Bahrain, especially Islamic banking, has benefited from the regional boom fueled by oil demand. Bahrain’s most exported commodity is petroleum production and refining. This accounts for 60% of export receipts, 70% of government revenues, and 11% of GDP. The second highest exported commodity is aluminum. Bahrain is home to a variety of multinational companies, and work on many major industrial projects is underway thanks to the country’s well-developed communication and transportation infrastructure.

• The Bahrain International Airport (BAH) which is located on the island of Muharraq, in the north-east. The airport handled more than 100,000 flights and more than 8 million passengers in 2010. Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air operates and bases itself in the BIA.
• Bahrain has a well-developed road network, particularly in Manama.
•  The discovery of oil in the early 1930s accelerated the creation of multiple roads and highways in the country. It connects several isolated villages, such as Budaiya, to Manama.
•  The four main islands and all the towns and villages are linked by well-constructed roads. There were 3,164 km (1,966 mi) of roadways in 2002, of which 2,433 km (1,512 mi) were paved.
•  A causeway stretching over 2.8 km (2 mi), connect Manama with Muharraq Island. And the another bridge joins Sitra to the main island. The King Fahd Causeway, measuring 24 km (15 mi), links Bahrain with the Saudi Arabian mainland via the island of Umm an-Nasan.

Besides oil, the nation has a number of other sectors contributing to the GDP. Some of them are tourism, transport, finance, and metals. The Gulf countries have become business hotspots for the West. They are rich in natural resources, they are wealthy, and they have a progressive environment for commerce.

Bahrain’s official language is Arabic. English understood and used as language of business. Bahraini Arabic is commonly spoken dialect of Arabic. Arabic is significant in political life. According to Bahrain’s constitution, an MP must be fluent in Arabic in order to run for parliament. The locals speaks Balochi abundantly after Bahraini Arabic. Many citizens in Bahrain, both Bahrainis and non-Bahrainis’, speak Persian, Iran’s official language, or Urdu, Pakistan’s official language and a regional language in India. A good number of Indian communities speak Malayalam, Tamil, Bangla, and Hindi. Both commercial establishments and road signs are bilingual, with both English and Arabic written on them.

Bahrain is most liberal economy in the Middle East. The expat women would find it easy to find jobs in Bahrain. For the business setting, however, both men and women should dress conservatively.

Since there is no personal taxes in Bahrain, net income is normally much higher. It is one of the major benefits of working there. Contract employees receive a ‘indemnity’ in addition to their wages at the end of the contract term. In most cases, the indemnity is dependent on the minimum wage, minus any incentives. Many people manage to either build up a fair financial buffer or enjoy the high life. You should be able to do some of both if you’re smart and disciplined. The indemnity has nothing to do with insurance, rather, it is an end-of-contract incentive.