The World Bank has warned of the Kuwaiti government's slowdown in addressing the recurrent inflation in the salary bill allocated to public sector employees due to the possibility of its impact on financial balances in the future. Saudi Arabia ranked second in the Gulf as the highest wages for the public sector in total annual expenditures after Kuwait, followed by Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, while the UAE is the least spending on this item.
The bank's concern about this situation comes despite the return of Kuwait's GDP to the growth path, in light of high oil prices and strong responses to the global health crisis, as Kuwait achieved the least progress among the Gulf countries in reforming the government wage bill.
The government guarantees that all Kuwaitis work in the public sector almost guaranteed by employing more than 80 percent of the citizens, who receive generous subsidies for fuel, electricity, and water.
The World Bank had warned that the budgets of the GCC countries are under great pressure due to the high wage costs. Pointing out that this will require the adoption of a clearly defined reform plan that addresses the interlinkages between public finance reforms, the civil service apparatus and the labor market, as well as developing an effective communication strategy that can convince citizens of the inevitability of reform.
The source (Al-Arab London Newspaper, Edited)
