Economic Transformation Urged In Kuwait

The upcoming National Assembly should adopt several prominent economic issues namely laws that would boost the diversification of the Kuwaiti economy and find new income sources that would secure sustainability, economic experts stressed. In interviews with KUNA, they said that the local economy depends on the global energy markets and their rapid fluctuations, pointing out to the necessity on working on the sustainability of the national economy to transform it from a rentier economy to a productive one.

They also stressed creating an investment climate that would attract foreign capital, boost the business competition, and remove the obstacles for foreign investors, as well as encourage national cadres to pave their way into a free economy and encourage innovation and creativity.

Imbalances

Financial markets expert Hassan bu Mejdad said that resolving the structural imbalances in the national economy would be through the privatization of some government sectors, such a energy and communications. He called for boosting privatepublic partnership, citing Az-Zour North power plant, Sheqaya solar plant and privatization of the stock market, as well as restructuring the government apparatus, canceling the non-productive sectors and merging sectors of similar nature.

For his part, Business Management professor at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Dr. Abdulamir Al-Hendal called for optimal utilization of funds in The National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development to progress youth projects, reduce the burden on the government and encourage skillful employees and those working in the private sector. He stressed the importance of activating the partnership between the public and private sector and encouraging the foreign investment environment in Kuwait, as well as facilitating all obstacles.

He called for focusing on a specific vision between the legislative and executive authorities, and prioritizing it through activating strategic plans and policies that were set in the New Kuwait 2035 vision. Expert in economic and investment affairs Nader Al-Obeid said that the government and National Assembly have to “agree on a clear economic vision with specific goals” that could be achieved through intensifying all efforts and harnessing all possibilities. He called for taking advantage of Kuwait’s special strategic location that would achieve a sustainable economic boom (renaissance), stressing in this regard the importance of creating specialized zones with diverse activities.

He warned against continuing to depend on a single source income, which is oil, and to expand investment in oil industries and producing environmentally friendly oil derivatives that would meet the needs of the global markets. Dr. Issam Al-Tawari, the Managing Partner for Newbury Economic Consultancy, said that the next National Assembly would be facing an important entitlement which is preserve the state’s sustainability through stopping over-spending, boosting the non-oil revenues and collect arrears on companies and individuals. He affirmed that diversifying income sources has become an urgent necessity in light of the developments in the world oil markets, recalling the record drop in oil prices during the Covid-19 pandemic. He stressed the he importance of sustaining the national economy and transforming it from a rentier economy to a productive economy, saying that investing in people is the pillar to build a productive and sustainable economy.

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