Page 177 - DILMUN NO 19

٠ he Economic istoyr of ahrain

t the onset of the manufacturing drie, there were not sufficient local
ualities to fill in the jobs. Gien the sudden change of heart on the patr of
the authorities, there appeared to be a shotrage of loclas in terms of both
ulaiyt and uantity to suppotr the industiralisation programme; hence, many
epatriates were brought in to take oer the job openings, hese happened
to be mostly from lndia, due to ahrain's connections to lndia during the
riitsh rule.

iuminum ahrain lba) is the mian industrial enture. It began its
operations in the early 170s as a joint enture bewteen ahrain and a group
of aluminum consumers, he goernment took a 20% stake but later kept
buying more of the foreign shares of the smleter facility, and currently is the
majoriyt shareholder. boe all, lba "represented the country's first
significant step toward industrial diersification."?' Epotring and downstream
are wto noted features of lba. It makes products such as standard ingot,
billets, rolling slabs and liuid metals.

oreoer, aailabiliyt of aluminum billets prompted the deelopment of
futrher processing actiities. One such firm is Gulf luminum olling ill
Company Garmco) which manufactures corrugated sheets; iddle East
Cable idal) manufactures aluminum cables and conductors for oerhead
transmission lines; another compan,y ahrain luminum Etrusion Company
aleco) makes etruded products such as window frames. Yet another
enture produces powder for paint goods, ١١ these ifrms use lba's standard
products to make fresh alue added goods primarily, for epotring. hanks to
lba's operations there are some 0 firms producing iderse aluminum
products.

21 "aharin lddle East Economic andobok ondon: Euromonitor ublishers i‫ﺍ‬mited,
16), 7.