Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/06/2014 -- Youthful population dynamics, government ICT initiatives and expanding financial hub status have been the major drivers of growth in Bahrain's IT market. However, escalating political instability in the kingdom dampened the growth of Bahrain's IT market during 2012 and 2013. Nevertheless, BMI believes high oil prices and the government's continued emphasis on developing Bahrain's ICT sector should support growth in the IT market over the short term. BMI therefore forecasts the total size of the of Bahrain's IT market to grow by 3.2% to US$358mn in 2014, up from an estimated US$347mn in 2013.

Headline Expenditure Projections

- Computer Hardware Sales: Estimated at US$347mn in 2013 and forecast to grow by 3.1% in 2014 to US$358mn. This will be underpinned by growth strong growth in tablet sales, which overtook desktop PC sales in the Middle East in 2013.
- Software Sales: Estimated at US$25mn in 2013, rising 8% y-o-y to US$27mn in 2014. This will be driven by increasing demand for security solutions, with a small contribution from transition to Windows8.
- IT Services Sales: Estimated at US$104mn in 2013 and forecast to rise 4.8% in 2014 to US$109mn, with increased uptake of cloud computing services as the major driver of growth.

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Headline Expenditure Projections

Risk/Reward Rating

Bahrain's IT rating is 50.5, putting it in 8th position out of a total of 13 in our rankings for the Middle East and Africa region. While Bahrain scores highly in the Country Rewards and Country Risks categories, its score is dragged down by a low Industry Rewards score, owing to its small population.

Key Trends And Developments

- Bahrain is an important financial hub and there is a substantial opportunity as banks invest to support new services and regulatory compliance. Cloud computer and managed services solutions are becoming increasingly popular in the financial sector as banks look to save on hardware and energy costs.
- Several companies now compete in Bahrain's cloud computing market, including incumbent telecoms operator, Batelco, and Gateway Gulf, which operates Bahrain's largest carrier-neutral datacentre.
- Bahrain's government continues to drive growth in the kingdom's IT industry. Major initiatives in 2013 included the Central Informatics Organisation's (CIO) agreement to implement Windows 8 across all government agencies and the Electricity and Water Authority's (EWA) deployment of SAP solutions to automate its key processes

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