Kuwait City: The Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Kuwait, Tariq Al Sheikh, stated, during a virtual seminar, that the investment environment in the Gulf has gone down in 2020 due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Al Jarida reported.
He added, “Kuwait has enormous potential to be a major destination that attracts foreign investment.”
Al Sheikh added Kuwait has made efforts in recent years to move away from dependence on the public sector, which is fuelled by the oil and gas industry.
He pointed out that in order to achieve a knowledge based economy, there needs to be implementation of strategies specified by the National Development Plan, but he said there was a long way before achieving the absolute goal of reducing dependency on oil revenues.
Joining the seminar was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, Dr Khaled Mahdi, who said, “In recent years, Kuwait has tried to transform its oil based economy into a knowledge and innovation economy, through developmental policies.
Kuwait’s income
Currently, 40 per cent of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the oil and gas sector.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Kuwait is underdeveloped, as various laws and policies make it difficult for foreign companies to invest in Kuwait. According to the 2020 World Investment Report, around 31 million Kuwaiti dinars of FDI came into Kuwait, a decrease from the previous year when there was 62 million Kuwaiti dinars of FDI entering the country.
