Capital Club Bahrain, the Kingdom’s Premier Private City Club, held its annual Business Outlook event focusing on key industries in the Kingdom of Bahrain with an impressive line-up of speakers, attracting over 100 Club Members and guests.
Speakers included the Chief Executive of Noga Holding, Shaikha Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa; CEO of Bahrain Islamic Bank, Hassan Jarar; Managing Director of The Islamic Bank of Asia, Saleh Al Nashwan and Head of Business Development and Property Services at Naseej, Mark Haikal. The discussion was moderated by Dr Sayed Farook, Vice Chairman CEO of Middle East Global Advisors.
The industry heavyweights shed light on the expected outcome of the Kingdom, focusing on the oil, financial and real estate sectors.
“A number of ambitious projects were announced this year,” said Shaikh Mohammed adding that “Tatweer has already launched an number of ground-breaking projects in 2014, also the Kingdoms of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have inked an agreement to develop a new oil pipeline which will ensure that the expansion of Bahrain’s refinery. Also it was announced that a floating facility for liquefied natural gas will be constructed with a capacity of 400 million cubic feet. The new facility will be ready by 2018.”
Further commenting on the Kingdom’s outlook for 2016, Mr Jarar said that, “the banking sector might face a liquidity issue. In Bahrain, we depend on government spending to fund projects geared for citizens such as the housing projects.”
“During any financial crisis, overall income decreases however budgets allocated for citizens projects remain, especially infrastructure-related projects and other services. There is a demand from citizens, and the demand is growing,” he added.
With regards to the real estate sector, Mr Haikal said that, “Naseej is working alongside the Ministry of Housing to develop 2,800 houses,” stressing that the Kingdom is one of the few countries that still provides housing services for its citizens.
Capital Club’s annual Business Outlook forum provides a platform for the leading business personalities to unite and discuss the Kingdom and region’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the coming year.
“We look forward to this event at the end of each year. Such insightful discussions highlight our aim to position the Club as the leading meeting point for business minds and a great opportunity for our Members to network”, said Capital Club Bahrain’s General Manager, Dina Haikel
“It allows our members to listen to and learn from industry leaders about the future of business in Bahrain and the region,” she added.