Sheikh Mohammad, bring our dreams closer

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THE Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran, “And continue to remind, for surely the reminder benefits the believers.”

Your Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem, the reminder here is regarding the economy, and how it is still about 93 percent dependent on oil and the profits of the foreign investments.

No serious attempts have been made to diversify the sources of income, done by the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which have made great strides in this regard. On the other hand, Kuwait is still on the “land of the deceased.”

There is no doubt that the global financial crisis in 2008 had negative consequences on all economies, including Kuwait.

Likewise, the Lebanese crisis and what we lost in its banks in 2019 represent a warning bell of what could happen in foreign strategic investments.

Also, the fluctuations in oil prices, and the search for alternatives to oil, make relying on it highly risky.

Therefore, investing in local assets, working to diversify sources of income, attracting investments, encouraging non-local ones, and entering into local and foreign partnerships have become a necessity.

It goes without saying that the closure of the country for nearly 20 years due to the improvised decisions and laws based on fanaticism and backwardness made it more like an isolated state. For this reason, we must get rid of the complex that those who come to us are covetous in us.

Your Highness the Prime Minister, as one of the distinguished economic experts of Kuwait, the economy must be your top priority. The country, as everyone knows, lacks productive projects, both in the industrial sector and services. Just as the infrastructure has become backward and must be developed, so does food security.

The state is under great financial pressure and facing an annual deficit as a result of systematic wastage due to absurd subsidies for goods and services, and the poor use of overseas medical treatments, which in the past three decades have turned into a political trade, while the local health infrastructure remains underdeveloped.

If the government worked to properly redirect the billions that are wasted on subsidies, allocate ten percent of them to increase the salaries of low-income and needy people, and direct the remaining amounts to encourage manufacturing of all kinds, improve infrastructure, and lift subsidies on goods, the annual financial deficit would be transformed into savings.

Here it must be said that those who say “it should not touch the citizens’ pocket” are the ones who actually benefit from subsidizing goods. Everyone knows where the large quantities of these subsidized goods go. It is either for smuggling abroad or for storage in order to increase their prices. This is an issue that must be addressed.

There is a proverb that says – “You reap what you sow.” You might lose the money that you don’t invest but instead you just keep it without benefiting from it. So why not use the wealth that suffers from great risks abroad to develop Kuwait? Open the country to everyone, and build service and entertainment facilities so that half a million Kuwaitis and residents are not forced to flee abroad every vacation. Last year alone, Kuwaitis’ spending on travel and tourism amounted to about USD 15 billion. Isn’t Kuwait more worthy of that?

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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