l parties prohibited;
several small, clandestine leftist and Shia fundamentalist groups are active

Suffrage: none

Elections: none

Communists: negligible

Member of: Arab League, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), GCC, IBRD, ICAO,
IDB--Islamic Development Bank, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OIC,
UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Ghazi Muhammad AL-QUSAYBI;
Chancery at 3502 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone
(202) 342-0741 or 342-0742; there is a Bahraini Consulate General in
New York; US--Ambassador Dr. Charles W. HOSTLER; Embassy at Shaikh
Isa Road, Manama (mailing address is P. O. 26431, Manama, or FPO New York
09526); telephone p973o 714151 through 714153

Flag: red with a white serrated band (eight white points) on the
hoist side

- Economy
Overview: The oil price decline in recent years has had an adverse
impact on the economy. Petroleum production and processing account for about
85% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 20% of GDP. In 1986
soft oil-market conditions led to a 5% drop in GDP, in sharp contrast
wit the 5% average annual growth rate during the early 1980s. The
slowdown in economic activity, however, has helped to check the
inflation of the 1970s. The government's past economic diversification
efforts have moderated the severity of the downturn but failed to
offset oil and gas revenue losses.

GDP: $3.5 billion, per capita $7,550 (1987); real growth rate 0% (1988)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.3% (1988)

Unemployment: 8-10% (1989)

Budget: revenues $1,136 million; expenditures $1,210 million,
including capital expenditures of $294 million (1987)

Exports: $2.4 billion (f.o.b., 1988 est.);
commodities--petroleum 80%, aluminum 7%, other 13%; partners--US,
UAE, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia

Imports: $2.5 billion (f.o.b., 1988 est.); commodities--nonoil 59%,
crude oil 41%; partners--UK, Saudi Arabia, US, Japan

External debt: $1.1 billion (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate - 3.1% (1987)

Electricity: 1,652,000 kW capacity; 6,000 million kWh produced,
12,800 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: petroleum processing and refining, aluminum smelting,
offshore banking, ship repairing

Agriculture: including fishing, accounts for less than 2% of GDP;
not self-sufficient in food production; heavily subsidized sector produces
fruit, vegetables, poultry, dairy products, shrimp, and fish; fish cat