KUWAIT IS FIFTH AND LAST ON THE GCC LIST OF "NON-OIL PROJECTS"

  • 10/10/2022

Kuwait City: According to MEED magazine, Kuwait's non-oil projects have a total value of $409 million, including $339 million in projects that are in the implementation stage, as opposed to $70 million for projects that are still in the study stage. Kuwait is therefore ranked fifth and last on MEED magazine's list of non-oil projects in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The UAE came in second with projects worth more than $8 billion; Oman came in third with projects worth 3.582 billion dollars; Qatar came in fourth with projects worth 1.597 billion dollars; Kuwait and Bahrain came in fifth and sixth with contracts worth 409 million dollars; the magazine claimed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia topped the list with projects whose total value in all stages exceeded 40 billion dollars. 


According to the sources, regional governments prioritise supporting non-oil industries like those that produce aluminium, steel, and other metals as well as those that produce industrial equipment as part of their non-oil economic development strategies.

The Gulf Cooperation Council nations are working to implement initiatives that will broaden the foundation of their non-oil economies and encourage domestic production and industry growth rather than relying on imports. 

Although the Gulf governments have experienced strong economic growth and have built budgetary fiscal surpluses as a result of high oil prices, they have not given up on their efforts to diversify the region's economy. In contrast to previous cycles of high oil prices, the current ones are being accompanied by governments' steadfast efforts to increase investment in improving their hydrocarbon production capabilities while striving to achieve their economic diversification objectives.

Husam Al-Jumaili, a partner in the Middle East division of management consulting firm Bain & Company, commented on this matter by stating that many of the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are at a turning point right now because they believe that relying solely on oil revenues and government spending for growth is unsustainable. 

On a related note, the establishment of special economic zones, such as logistic hubs, free trade zones, and industrial clusters, has seen a noticeable increase globally. There were fewer than 200 such regions in the world in the 1980s, but there are now more than 7,000 spread across more than 140 countries. Due to the intense international competition to draw businesses to the Special Economic Zones, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were at the forefront of this growth; however, the geographic advantage enjoyed by the GCC countries in the relationship between East and West is still as strong as it was centuries ago.

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