Kuwait Videos

Video Interview with Bader M. Al-Humaidhi, Former Minister of Finance of Kuwait

Kuwait’s government and parliament in 2008 issued a law that was organized by the Central Bank. It had three objectives: to extend financial assistance through banks to financial institutions who were effected by the crisis, to help economic growth in Kuwait by assisting financial institutions to extend their financial expertise to companies who at that time were in need of assistance to continue their growth, and the third objective was to look for investment companies who were affected and at extend help to them at that time as well.  The law was effective but unfortunately not too many companies utilized this law because it gives power to the central bank to interfere with the strategy and administration of these companies which was unfavorable.  As for the current situation in Kuwait, the government has submitted the five year plan and it has been approved.  Now the plan needs to be implemented and there are other laws that need to be approved by the parliament to put the economy in a better position for growth. Many of the laws in place or waiting to be approved that are not effective. What we need now is to change the laws and open doors to foreign investment in Kuwait. Last year Kuwait only attracted 150 million dollars of foreign direct investment but the outflow was around 8 billion dollars. There needs to be more cooperation between government and the parliament to implement new laws and help safely improve the current situation.