Kuwait – Mubasher: The Kuwaiti economy grew by 3.5% in 2016, compared to 4.1% annually between 2012 and 2015, Al Qabas newspaper reported, citing the chairman of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).
Essam Saqr said he expected the decline in government spending to affect the slowdown of asset growth and financial lending, which in turn will pressure the banking sector’s liquidity, according to the paper.
Kuwait allocated around KWD 18 billion to several major projects in 2016, including a liquid gas plant and two universities, the top executive noted.
GCC countries are suffering from a decline in the number of developmental projects as several have been postponed in 2015 and 2016, NBK’s chairman added.
On Tuesday, Kuwait’s finance minister Anas Khalid Al Saleh, who doubles as the country’s vice prime minister, announced that investment spending in the country would reach KWD 34 billion by 2020, noting that non-oil sectors were likely to grow by 3.55% in 2017.
In January, Al Saleh stated that total spending in the country’s new budget for the year 2017/2018 will rise by 5.3% to KWD 19.9 billion from KWD 18.9 billion in the current budget.
An NBK report released in March expected an acceleration in Kuwait’s project awards in the first half of 2017 to a combined amount exceeding KWD 6.2 billion.
