Mubasher: The Bahraini economy is expected to maintain the same growth rate recorded last year in 2020, governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Rasheed Al Maraj stated on Tuesday.

Strategic projects will have a positive impact on the national economy in 2020, Al Maraj added, according to the Bahrain News Agency.

Bahrain’s GDP is expected to grow by 2.3% in 2019, supported by the non-oil economy, which is projected to grow by 2.8% in 2020 and by 3.2% in 2021, Al Maraj revealed.

The top official said that total loans granted by Bahraini banks reached BHD 9.78 billion during the third quarter of 2019, compared to BHD 9.887 billion in Q2-19.

As for the merger between Kuwait Finance House (KFH) and Ahli United Bank (AUB), Al Maraj noted that the CBB has set out some conditions for the approval of the transaction. The two banks have agreed on these conditions, he added.