Kuwait: Salary allocation in budget up 600% in 15 years

Dubai: Salary allocation in Kuwait’s budget has gone up by 600 per cent in 15 years, with a total of 12.6 billion Kuwaiti dinars being dedicated for paychecks in the latest budget, the Al Qabas newspaper reported.

According to Ghassan Alkhoja, the director of the World Bank office in Kuwait, 1.8 billion Kuwaiti dinars in the total budget were dedicated to salaries in 2005, which means salaries have increased by 600 per cent in just 15 years.

Alkhoja added that leadership positions occupied by Kuwaiti women constitute 17 per cent in the public sector. “This is considered a very low rate, especially since the number of working women is greater than that of men,” he added.

For his part, the regional director of the Gulf Cooperation Council at the World Bank, Issam Abu Suleiman, affirmed that the downgrading of Kuwait’s credit rating gives Kuwait the opportunity to carry out necessary reforms to obtain financial sustainability.

Earlier last month, Fitch said it downgraded Kuwait’s credit rating to ‘AA-’ from ‘AA’.