Industry Future Rests With Oil

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BMI's recently published Bahrain Automotives Report has raised its sales growth forecast for 2006 from 6.0% to 6.7% due to high oil revenue and economic growth in the rest of the Gulf region. GDP is set to rise by 7.0% by end-2006, but will steadily decline to around 4.6% by 2010 as oil prices fall. This will have a negative impact on vehicle sales with the automotive market growing by 4.1% by the end of the decade. Consumer demand will be limited by the problem of congestion in Bahrain and high rates of car ownership. The SUV segment is likely