A recent government report underscores the imperative of implementing various measures to foster progress and prosperity across multiple sectors in Kuwait, particularly in light of the country’s decline by approximately seven positions in the global prosperity index over the past decade.
Issued by the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, the report analyzes the Global Prosperity Index figures for the year 2023. Kuwait, ranking third in the Arab world and 60th globally out of 167 countries with a score of 60.9%, emphasizes the need for more equitable distribution of the economy’s output among citizens to achieve prosperity, reports Al-Qabas daily.
The report highlights that the recent dip in oil prices and reduced investment levels foreshadow increased economic uncertainty in the coming years. It further notes a decline of 17 places in living conditions and a similar decline in health indicators.
In terms of performance pillars, the report indicates that Kuwait excelled in the areas of living conditions and health while facing challenges in the natural environment pillar in 2023. Over the past decade, Kuwait experienced a seven-place drop in the overall Global Prosperity Index ranking. However, it saw significant improvement in the business environment pillar, advancing by 39 places.
Examining Kuwait’s performance between 2013 and 2023, the report highlights the following trends:
1 – Safety and security — Kuwait declined in the safety and security pillar during the past decade by 8 places, and the reason for this is due to the performance of the “terrorism and violence” index, in which it fell by 62 places over ten years. The rate of violence and crime also increased in the country, and drugs were the main reason for the spread of this phenomenon. It was found that out of every 50 cases handled by the security services in the country, 35 are drug-related.
2 – Personal freedom — It advanced three places in the personal freedom pillar during the past decade, and one of the most prominent reasons is Kuwait’s application of constitutional democracy, in addition to the effective role of the opposition in criticizing and correcting the government’s work through the National Assembly.
3 – Governance — It declined in the governance pillar over the past decade by three places, as Kuwait has witnessed a continuous decline in prosperity since 2013 due to the deterioration in the governance pillar.
4 – Social capital — It declined in the social capital pillar over the past decade by 73 places, and the report attributed the reason behind this to the decline in personal and family relationships, social networks, and personal trust. The decline reflects that the degree of trust among individuals in society is not at the expected level as a result of social, economic, political and cultural factors.
5 – Investment environment — It declined in the investment environment pillar over the past decade by 5 places, as international data and classifications of foreign investment flows do not give Kuwait an advanced position on the list of countries attracting investment, which is due to fluctuations in some aspects of economic, financial and tax policies.
6 – Business environment — It advanced 39 places in the business environment pillar during the past decade due to the state’s efforts to improve the business environment.
7 – Market infrastructure and ease of access — The pillar of market infrastructure and accessibility fell by 12 places over the past decade, which is due to non-tariff trade barriers.
8 – Quality of the economy — It declined by 21 places in the quality of the economy over the past decade, most of which is due to the crisis of declining oil prices, which caused a general budget deficit, in addition to the emergence of a number of indicators that indicated the existence of a real crisis on the financial and economic levels.
9 – Living conditions — It declined in the living conditions pillar over the past decade by 17 places.
10 – Health — It declined in the health pillar over the past decade by 17 places due to the decline in physical and mental health indicators, indicating that the level of quality of health care in Kuwait is below ambition despite the high cost of health services.
11 – Education — Kuwait declined in the education pillar during the past decade by 3 places, which is due to the weak linguistic skills of students in the primary stage and earlier. Despite the huge budget allocated to education, the outputs are not proportional to what is spent in this regard.
Guidance towards sustainable development
The report said, “All executive authorities must be keen to direct towards sustainable development to achieve integration between development policies and sustainable development, through which the sustainability of prosperity is enhanced, through procedures characterized by several characteristics such as participation, justice, equality, efficiency and transparency.
Therefore, executive authorities must take into account These challenges may be faced during the implementation stages through decisions that are translated into strategies interconnected with its development policies so that it does not reflect negatively on development performance.”
The report stated that achieving sustainable prosperity requires the presence of an appropriate environment in which the political, societal and economic dimensions are achieved through effective government performance in which integration of development policies is achieved and in which work is also done to achieve harmonization, compatibility, participation and interconnection between all parties and sectors at various levels.
The General Secretariat for Planning said that to achieve greater progress and prosperity in various fields, we propose the following:
1 – Working to increase and spread awareness regarding the seriousness of violence and its social, economic, educational and psychological effects, by conducting various and ongoing awareness programs.
2 – Amending the Press and Publications Law, the Cybercrime Law, and the Communications Law to make them compatible with international standards related to the right to freedom of expression.
3- Intensifying anti-corruption efforts in all fields and implementing strict laws and procedures to combat corruption. The role of oversight bodies should be strengthened and protection should be provided to those who report corruption.
4 – Amending and developing all legislation related to the development of social capital to allow for greater community and volunteer participation.
5 – Opening investment areas for local and foreign investors, creating more job opportunities, and creating an investment climate in a fair competitive environment that can transform Kuwait into a financial and economic center.
6 – Diversifying the sources of the economy, reducing dependence on oil, raising the level of production and general performance in public services, providing attractive investment opportunities, and achieving more justice in distributing the economy’s output among citizens.
7 – Promoting small and medium enterprises, which in turn will lead to diversifying the economic base and creating new opportunities.
8 – Developing the health sector and providing the best medical devices, pharmaceutical and vaccine industries to improve health services provided to citizens and residents of the country.
9 – Raising the efficiency of the educational process, providing more facilities, and paying attention to the quality and content of the curricula to suit the educational curricula in various fields, especially in the primary stage due to its importance.
10 – Promoting environmental education and making society aware of the importance of preserving the environment and the effects of its pollution on human health and natural life. The use of renewable energy must be encouraged and environmental measures must be strengthened.
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