Former UK prime minister Harold Macmillan once responded to a reporter who asked him what could possibly blow his government off course, by saying "events, dear boy, events". The Kingdom of Bahrain has had to deal with its fair share of events over the course of the past 12 to 18 months. Largely originating off its own shores, the country has had to cope with the impact of the global economic downturn, the collapse of two substantial Saudi Arabian investors in the region and the wider Gulf Arab property crash precipitated by the Dubai World debt standstill.
The effects of these events have reverberated down through the country's financial system, which although adversely affected, has weathered the storm. The Central Bank of Bahrain's (CBB) governor, Rasheed Al Maraj, has won international praise for his handling of events and sound regulation, combined with a cautious approach to growth, ensuring that Bahrain did not go the same way as Dubai.
