By: Eman Ghaly
Mubasher: Kuwaitis spent 7.35% less on overseas travel during 2019, according to data released by the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK).
Spending on tourism abroad retreated to KWD 3.732 billion ($12.09 billion) last year, compared to KWD 4.028 billion ($13.05 billion) in 2018.
The number of the GCC nation’s residents amounted to 4.82 million, of which 1.42 million are Kuwaiti nationals and 3.4 million are expats.
Spending on tourism is expected to decline further in 2020 due to the economic disruption and flight suspension caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Deficit in the service account reached KWD 5.113 billion in 2019, down by 31.15% from KWD 7.426 billion in 2018.
It is worth noting that Kuwait's balance of payments (BoP) recorded a surplus of KWD 821.2 million ($2.7 billion) in 2019, compared with KWD 1.1 billion ($3.6 billion) a year earlier, initial data showed.
