Real estate has long been a mainstay of Kuwait’s non-oil economy, while its construction industry is among the strongest in the region and a rising star in the non-oil economy, with its growing population, tightly regulated land market and wealthy populous all combining to fuel demand for new building. In 2014 the two industries together accounted for 10.6% of non-oil GDP. Although a range of...
A founding member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Kuwait and other members together hold over 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves, of which Kuwait has 101.5bn barrels, or 6%. After the Second World War its role in newly global energy markets gradually increased, with production growing to 1m by 1955. Following independence in 1961, the country spent two decades...
Located at the northern section of the Gulf, Kuwait lies on the historical trade routes that have for millennia linked Mesopotamia, Arabia and Persia to the Gulf and Indian Ocean trade networks. The country already boasts a quite sophisticated infrastructure, but as part of diversification plans set out in Kuwait Vision 2035, stakeholders have laid out plans to transform the country into a...
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....
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