Debt - external:
$3.7 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient:
$150 million; note - $50 million annually since 1992 from each of
Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait (2002)
Currency:
Bahraini dinar (BHD)
Currency code:
BHD
Exchange rates:
Bahraini dinars per US dollar - 0.38 (2002), 0.38 (2001), 0.38
(2000), 0.38 (1999), 0.38 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Bahrain
Telephones - main lines in use:
152,000 (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
58,543 (1997)
Telephone system:
general assessment: modern system
domestic: modern fiber-optic integrated services; digital network
with rapidly growing use of mobile cellular telephones
international: tropospheric scatter to Qatar and UAE; microwave
radio relay to Saudi Arabia; submarine cable to Qatar, UAE, and
Saudi Arabia; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic
Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat (1997)