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Kuwait has been ruled by the AL-SABAH dynasty since the 18th century. The threat of Ottoman invasion in 1899 prompted Amir Mubarak AL-SABAH to seek protection from Britain, ceding foreign and defense responsibility to Britain until 1961, when the country attained its independence. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. The AL-SABAH family returned to power in 1991 and established one of the most independent legislatures in the Arab World. The country witnessed the historic election in 2009 of four women to its National Assembly. Amid the 2010-11 uprisings and protests across the Arab world, stateless Arabs, known as bidoon, staged small protests in early 2011 demanding citizenship, jobs, and other benefits available to Kuwaiti nationals. Youth activist groups' repeated rallies in 2011 for the dismissal of a prime minister seen as being corrupt, ultimately led to his resignation in late 2011. Demonstrations renewed in late 2012 in response to an Amiri decree amending the electoral law. The opposition, led by a coalition of Sunni Islamists, tribalists, some liberals, and myriad youth groups, largely boycotted legislative elections in 2012 and 2013, which ushered in a legislature more amenable to the government's agenda. However, the opposition, expressing strong opposition to the government’s fiscal reforms, participated in the November 2016 National Assembly and won almost half of the positions. Since coming to power in 2006, the Amir has dissolved the National Assembly on seven occasions (the Constitutional Court annulled the Assembly in June 2012 and again in June 2013) and shuffled the cabinet over a dozen times, usually citing political stagnation and gridlock between the legislature and the government.

Location

Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia

Natural Resources

petroleum, fish, shrimp, natural gas

Population - distribution

densest settlement is along the Persian Gulf, particularly in Kuwait City and on Bubiyan Island; significant population threads extend south and west along highways that radiate from the capital, particularly in the southern half of the country

2789132
Arabic (official), English widely spoken
KUWAIT (capital) 2.779 million (2015)
Conventional long form
State of Kuwait
Conventional short form
Kuwait
Local long form
Dawlat al Kuwayt
Local short form
Al Kuwayt
constitutional monarchy
Name
Kuwait City
Geographic coordinates
29 22 N, 47 58 E
Time difference
UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt
Kuwait has a geographically small, but wealthy, relatively open economy with crude oil reserves of about 102 billion barrels - more than 6% of world reserves. Kuwaiti officials plan to increase production to 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020. Petroleum accounts for over half of GDP, 92% of export revenues, and 90% of government income.
Inflation
3.198%
Total tax rate (% of commercial profits)
13.0%
Real Interest Rate
43.274%
Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP)
6.155%
Current Account Balance
US$ 930,000,777
Labor Force, Total
2,201,118
Employment in Agriculture
1.20%
Employment in Industry
40.20%
Employment in Services
58.60%
Unemployment Rate
2.44%
Imports of goods and services
US$ 51,618,477,900
Exports of goods and services
US$ 62,013,958,126
Total Merchandise Trade
75.06%
FDI, net inflows
US$ 274,759,979
Commercial Service Exports
US$ 4,967,779,257
petroleum, petrochemicals, cement, shipbuilding and repair, water desalination, food processing, construction materials
Commodities
oil and refined products, fertilizers
Partners
South Korea 14.8%, China 12.3%, Japan 10.6%, India 9.8%, US 7.7%, Pakistan 6%, Singapore 4.4% (2015)
Commodities
food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing
Partners
China 13.2%, US 9.6%, Saudi Arabia 7.7%, Japan 6.5%, Germany 5.1%, France 4.3%, India 4.3% (2015)
Country Risk Rating
A3
Changes in generally good but somewhat volatile political and economic environment can affect corporate payment behavior. A basically secure business environment can nonetheless give rise to occasional difficulties for companies. Corporate default probability is quite acceptable on average.
Business Climate Rating
A4
The business environment is acceptable. Corporate financial information is sometimes neither readily available nor sufficiently reliable. Debt collection is not always efficient and the institutional framework has shortcomings. Intercompany transactions may thus run into appreciable difficulties in the acceptable but occasionally unstable environments rated A4.
  • Large oil reserves (9% of the global total)
  • Very solid financial situation thanks to the accumulation of considerable public and external surpluses, managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) sovereign fund
  • Welfare state financed by the oil windfall
  • Political obstacles to structural reforms
  • Business and competitive climate can be improved (country ranked 104th out of 189 by the World Bank)
  • Located in a region with acute geopolitical tensions, linked in particular to the proximity of Iraq and Iran

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