“Capital Economics” confirmed in its report issued recently that Kuwait benefited from the Russian war on Ukraine, in the context of its comment on the Gulf countries’ benefit from the global geopolitical situation, which pushed oil prices to rise at record levels, as it indicated that Kuwait increased its oil production during the first quarter which was reinforced during the month of April in conjunction with the high prices.
However, the research company stressed that the non-oil sector did not show a clear recovery and growth in the first quarter of this year, despite the lifting most of the restrictions that had been imposed earlier to limit the outbreak of the Corona virus, reports a local Arabic daily.
Despite this, the report indicated that the credit growth to the private sector recorded the highest rate of increase on an annual basis compared to Bahrain and Oman, which is relatively due to the slowdown in the credit provided to companies during the comparative period of last year.
The report pointed to the significant rise in inflation in Kuwait, which rose to its highest level in nearly a decade on an annual basis, reaching 4.4%, to record the highest inflation level among the Gulf countries that were compared in the report, after inflation in Kuwait was lower than the levels of Bahrain and Oman before Corona pandemic in 2019.
On the level of the rest of the Gulf countries, the report indicated that Saudi Arabia recorded an accelerating pace of growth in the first quarter of this year, on the background of the rise in oil prices to record levels.
Capital Economics expected that the Kingdom’s economic growth would reach a record rate, the highest in more than a decade, reaching about 10% over the entire year 2022.
The report also indicated that the Saudi budget recorded the largest surplus during the first quarter of the year since 2012.