The Middle East

In addition to ambitious production and refinery expansion plans, the Kuwaiti government is also moving to rapidly enlarge and upgrade its power grid. With recent refinery shutdowns highlighting the country’s energy vulnerabilities, and domestic consumption of heavily subsidised electricity continuing to rise, the country’s power grid is in...

The state of Kuwait sits at the confluence of three of the most populous and prosperous countries in the Middle East – Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. As such, Kuwait is a logical transport centre for the northern Gulf and has committed itself to making investments towards attaining that goal.

While in the middle of the 20th century the Kuwaiti aviation sector led the Gulf region in terms of progress and innovation, over the past 20 year or so the country has lost its lead as other GCC states have caught up. In the 1980s, Kuwait Airways was a favourite with an excellent reputation, but today it has largely been eclipsed by the rise...

The insurance sector in Kuwait has grown considerably over the past five years. According to statistics published by Capital Standards, a local ratings agency, in 2012 the industry brought in KD249.41m ($876.95m) in gross written premiums (GWPs), up more than 10% from the previous year.

In late April 2013 Kuwait’s government introduced new legislation aimed at providing Kuwaiti citizens with insurance against unemployment. The Unemployment Insurance Law (UIL) provides six months of coverage for nationals that have recently lost their jobs. This is the newest addition to the country’s extensive existing social safety net,...

Since the 2007-08 international economic downturn, revenue diversification has been a major focus for financial institutions around the world. In Kuwait, where a handful of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) were forced to enter into restructuring in the wake of the financial crisis and most others saw a major drop in income, this has taken...