Kuwait is preparing a five-year plan worth 35 billion dinars ($130.9 billion) aimed at developing the financial sector and lure more foreign investment. It wants to diversify its economy away from oil by becoming a regional financial centre and attracting tourists as nearby Dubai and Bahrain have done. The plan would cost a total of $35 billion to fund projects and train administration staff. The draft law for the plan will be sent to Parliament before it reconvenes in October. Under the plan, prepared by the country’s top planning council, Kuwait aims to boost its non-oil economy, which currently accounts for less than 10 percent of state revenues, by launching several big projects and improving the Gulf Arab state’s infrastructure. It also seeks to ease land ownership rules and give the private sector more access to land, and control spending as inflation rises. More than 90 percent of land in Kuwait is owned by the government. It appears that the whole idea of the mega development project moves around financial sector and tourism without any meaningful development of manufacturing sector.
BLUEPRINT OF KUWAIT’S DEVELOPMENT
Kuwait is preparing a five-year plan worth 35 billion dinars ($130.9 billion) aimed at developing the financial sector and lure more foreign investment
