‘Govt tries to expand economic activities for non-oil sectors’

KUWAIT CITY, June 10: The government is striving towards expanding its economic activities for the non-oil sectors with the aim of covering the financial deficit. This is in consideration of the retrogression of the financial situation and the slow fall of the real GDP for non-oil sectors from 5 to 3.5 percent, under expectations for improvement to 3.6 and 4 percent this year and the next through execution of projects that are part of the fiveyear development plan, reports Al-Shahed daily.

Controlling

According to sources, the government is working on controlling the financial situation in a gradual manner with increase in investment support through execution of the development plan and by investing about KD 34 billion by the year 2020 between the public and private sectors. This is aimed to refresh economic diversification and reduce dependence on the oil sector as the main source of revenue, in addition to contribute in covering the fallback.

The sources indicated that the financial deficit of Kuwait continues for the third consecutive year due to the fall of oil prices, stressing that the pressure on the financial situation is expected to ease by the end of this year.

They said, “The rate of economy growth doubled during 2016 to reach 2.4 percent as compared to 1.1 percent in 2015. The economic growth rate will reach about 2.8 percent this year, and 3.3 percent in the next two years 2018 and 2019”.