The International Monetary Fund revealed that Kuwait needs to accelerate the pace of reforms, to reduce the adoption of government policies based on the rise and fall in oil prices.
"Kuwait has a high level of buffers, but it needs to accelerate reforms, allowing it to gradually reduce public finances' dependence on oil prices and allow it to be less pro-cyclical in its policies," said Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF.
Azour said, "I do not think that they will find it difficult to access the market. What they need to deal with at this stage is a legislative issue, nothing more."
Kuwait faces short-term liquidity risks, which is largely due to the absence of parliamentary authorization for the government to borrow. Kuwait has been hit hard by low crude prices and the Covid-19 pandemic, but economic reforms have been hampered by frequent disagreements and crises between the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly.
Kuwait estimates a deficit of 12.1 billion dinars (39.98 billion dollars) in the fiscal year 2021-2022, which is 13.8 percent less than the expected deficit in the budget for the fiscal year ending on March 31, as most of the decrease is due to expectations of higher oil prices.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
