The Credit Rating Agency, “Fitch”, expected that Kuwait would record a 1 percent growth in GDP in 2023, compared to 1.8 percent for the UAE, 2.2 percent for Bahrain, 2.1 percent for Oman, 0.2 percent for Qatar, and 1.5 percent for Saudi Arabia. The agency also expected surpluses to be much lower than in 2022, assuming that the average price of a barrel of oil is $85 (less than $100 a barrel in 2022) and production is stable on a large scale from end-2022 levels.
According to “Fitch” data, the level of unemployment among youth in Kuwait increased between 2012 and 2021, recording the highest rate among the Gulf countries at about 17 percent. Expecting that a change in the price of a barrel of oil by $10 will change the budgets of the Gulf States by between 2.5 percent and 6.5 percent of the GDP.
According to “Fitch”, the growth of the oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa region will be much weaker in 2023 with stable oil production. Noting that slowing global growth in 2023 may lead to further cuts in "OPEC Plus" if the oil market turns decisively into surplus, but concerns remain about the possibility of supply shortages, including with regard to Russia.
Source (Al-Raya Kuwaiti Newspaper, Edited)
