Public Wage Bill In Kuwait Is The Highest Among Gcc Countries

A recent report prepared by the World Bank revealed that the public sector wage bill in Kuwait is the highest among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as government employees’ wages account for about 60% of the total public spending in the country, Al Anbaa reported.

Public sector employment provides good wages, generous benefits, and comfortable working hours, and therefore oil revenues are directed towards public sector jobs and generous gifts.

The World Bank report said that Kuwait guarantees the social contract for all Kuwaitis to work in the public sector in an almost guaranteed manner, as the government employs more than 80% of the citizens and also all individuals in Kuwait receive generous subsidies for fuel, electricity, and water.

The World Bank stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranks second in the Gulf with the highest wages for the public sector of total public spending, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, and the Sultanate of Oman, while the United Arab Emirates comes as the lowest wage bill for the public sector in the Gulf.

The report indicated that Kuwait enjoys high standards of living, considered one of the highest levels of per capita income in the world, and the non-oil sector is still highly dependent on consumer spending because most of this spending comes from families whose members work in the public sector. The rates of private sector development and job creation have been very modest in recent years.

The World Bank pointed out that the non-oil sector lacks incentives for capital spending and the private sector is reluctant to invest in the absence of investments and integrative reforms in the public sector.

He stressed that the deficits and financing needs are still large in Kuwait because oil prices have only partially recovered from the shock of 2014 and spending has only been partially adjusted.

 

SOURCE  :  TIMES KUWAIT

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