الاقتصاد والاستقرار السياسي .. ملفات ملحة أمام القيادة الكويتية الجديدة
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00:00 After the death of the Prince of Kuwait, the new ruler of the country, Prince of Kuwait,
00:09 Mishal Ahmed Al-Sabah, has faced many economic and challenging issues in the oil country,
00:17 especially Kuwait.
00:19 Let's take a look at the Kuwaiti economy and its figures during the current and future periods,
00:26 and also take a look at the near future.
00:30 The Kuwaiti economy is currently under the pressure of oil prices, which are showing sharp fluctuations
00:37 after we saw strong gains in crude oil prices in 2022 with the beginning of the Ukrainian-Russian war.
00:45 Thus, Kuwait achieved a profit last year,
00:50 but the expected balance may be weak and may be weak in 2023.
00:57 Let's look at the balance of 2023-2024 in the financial year that ends in March.
01:04 Let's look at the revenues of 19.5 billion dinars,
01:08 spending 26.3 billion dinars, with a deficit of about 7 billion dinars.
01:14 These revenues are based on oil prices.
01:20 Oil revenues account for more than 88% of the Kuwaiti budget,
01:28 estimated at 17.2 billion dinars in 2023-2024.
01:35 We also see that there are large expenses,
01:40 estimated at about 10 billion dinars, related to wages and salaries, and compensation for workers.
01:47 Therefore, the size or comparison of oil revenues, which account for about 17 billion dinars,
01:55 compared to expenses only on wages and salaries,
01:59 is a big difference, in addition to capital expenditures and others.
02:03 Therefore, a deficit of 7 billion dinars.
02:06 If we look at inflation rates in Kuwait since the late Prince of Kuwait took power in 2020,
02:14 it was about 2.4% in the 100s.
02:18 It rose until April 2022, when it recorded levels above 4% in the 100s,
02:23 and it slowed down until its last reading in October 2023, at 3.8% in the 100s.
02:31 However, we see that the economy is strongly financed by financial institutions.
02:38 Of course, Kuwait's financial rankings are all positive and high.
02:44 If we look at the Fitch, which ranks the Kuwaiti economy in the WMI,
02:48 we see that it is stable,
02:51 because foreign sovereign assets account for 505% of the total local revenue of the Kuwaiti economy.
03:00 These assets are currently being transferred to the Kuwaiti Generation Fund.
03:06 However, what is striking is the concern of many ranking agencies
03:12 and the state of political stability in the country.
03:15 This is what puts some of the fears related to Kuwait,
03:20 and the idea of the parliament being dissolved from time to time,
03:23 and the absence of political stability, and the government being dissolved from time to time,
03:27 and the absence of political stability, naturally leads to many doubts among the financial ranking agencies,
03:33 which so far look at the economy as stable,
03:36 but they point to the great dependence on oil prices, which must change in the near future.
03:44 Kuwait says it is in the process of changing its plans until 2035,
03:50 and this plan may extend to 2040,
03:53 because so far, according to the finance minister, Saad Al-Barak, nothing has been implemented.
03:58 If we look at the expectations of the IMF,
04:01 there will be a 16% increase in the Kuwaiti economy in 2023,
04:05 and a 3.6% increase in the next year.
04:09 Unemployment in Kuwait will reach 2.2%,
04:13 or settle at 2.2%.
04:16 The inflation will decrease from 3.4% in 2023 to 3.1% in the next year.
04:24 So, oil prices are still the biggest controller in the Kuwaiti economy,
04:30 and the challenges still face the new Kuwaiti prince,
04:34 to control the economy of his country,
04:37 and to curb the lack of oil and the development of the non-oil sector.