Despite the slowing regional economy and strong competition among local players, Kuwait’s insurance sector has seen steady growth in recent years, due in large part to rising demand for non-life products and increased activity in the takaful (Islamic insurance) segment. In 2015 the industry brought in an estimated KD315m ($1.04bn) in total gross written premiums (GWPs), up 4.3% from KD302m ($...
More than six years of strategic planning came to fruition in late April 2016, when Boursa Kuwait Securities Company, a private firm established in 2014, took over management of the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The move was widely understood to indicate the beginning of a new era for Kuwait’s capital market. This shift follows on from a series of major reforms initiated by the passage of the 2010...
With strong foreign reserves, a rapidly improving investment framework and a major state-led development programme under way, Kuwait is well positioned to attract growing levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade in the coming years. While the government has cut back on current spending recently, capital expenditure has continued apace and is forecast to grow in the coming years....
With a raft of large-scale, government-led development projects on the docket, rising retail deposits and strong support from regulators and other authorities, Kuwait’s banking sector is widely considered to be poised for a period of long-term growth. This follows a difficult period linked to the broader economic volatility that has impacted the Gulf region in recent years. Nonetheless, as of...
The story of Kuwait’s economy, like so many of its neighbours, has been dominated by oil. Once a regional port for pearling and fishing, the country was part of regional Gulf trade networks intimately tied to those of the Indian Ocean. Political independence in 1961, along with its huge hydrocarbons resources, helped Kuwait to become one of the top oil producers in the world. Still, the...
A member of both the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the GCC, Kuwait is arguably the most politically dynamic in the Gulf, which has afforded it strong foundations to help tackle recent issues concerning parliamentary elections and accountability. By continuing with economic diversification efforts and reducing dependence on oil revenues, it is also adding increased...
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