IT spending in Bahrain is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% from US$1.4bn in 2019 to US$2.1bn in 2024, driven by liberal business policy and advanced infrastructure, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Energy and BFSI will be the sectors witnessing the fastest growth during the period, followed by manufacturing and construction.

Shamim Khan, Senior Technology Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The local startup structure on fintech, coupled with significant attention by the Bahrain Government on the manufacturing and BFSI verticals will help drive growth.”

In terms of IT segments, data and analytics will witness the highest growth (CAGR) of 16.6% during the period 2019-2024.

Shamim adds: “The active participation of statutory boards like Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and its various deals with foreign institutions on mutual innovation and knowledge exchange on the digital economy will prove instrumental in the long-term growth of ICT in the region. In recent times, EDB has signed key deals on promoting cooperation in FinTech, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity, which will drive the growth of data and analytics in Bahrain.”

Cloud computing revenue is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% during the 2019-2024 period. The Bahrain Government adopted a ‘Cloud-First’ strategy in 2017 to drive the adoption of cloud across state entities and an upgrade of the government systems, with a preliminary target to have 1,500 government employees ready to use the cloud by the end of 2019. Not surprisingly, cloud vendors have also been showing a keen interest in the region. Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example, announced its AWS Bahrain region in July last year, which was the first AWS region in the Middle East and consisted of three Availability Zones.

Shamim concludes: “Foreign investment in ICT has been growing steadily in Bahrain, and the government’s push to expand and upgrade ICT solutions will further facilitate the IT revenue growth in the country. A cloud-first policy, coupled with Bahrain’s new data protection policy and a more transparent regulatory framework will propel the emergence of Bahrain as a lucrative ICT market over the coming years.”