The Kuwait Economic Society (KES) considers it necessary to reformulate the strategy of food and national security with regard to inflation and per capita income, because what is happening is a graveyard for the middle class, which is the backbone of any local economy.
In a statement on inflation, the association added that “what we suffer is a slackness of an administrative apparatus whose efficiency does not match the efficiency of the international changes that occur in the world of economics, politics and food security,” said a local Arabic daily quoting economic society sources.
“To every minister and deputy who put Kuwait’s interest before him, we say, ‘I wish we would be kind to our country, for we have paid a heavy price as a people for your impulses that need more wisdom,” said the source.
The association said, “For a while, the government has been facing a wave of high prices (in theory at least). Inflation actually started in the prices of many goods and services during the oil boom period, specifically, it happened in real estate since the beginning of that oil boom in 2003 and ended in 2014.
The sources added, “We are aware that with the repercussions of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which casts a negative shadow on many Arab countries, the interconnection of the global economic system with each other does not leave any country immune from what is happening, but inflation rates in Kuwait recorded an unprecedented rise at the end of the first quarter of this year. This was driven by the high prices in global markets, followed by the large jump in prices, which was reflected in the local affairs.
“Finally, the data of the Central Administration of Government Statistics showed an increase in the monthly consumer price index by about 4.36 percent during last March on an annual basis, an increase that the country had not previously witnessed, but during the pandemic period it recorded an inflation rate of about 3.2 percent, meaning that it is less than today,” said the sources.
The sources added, “The data of the Central Administration of Statistics mentions that the inflation rate for the first group, which includes “food and beverages”, jumped 7.2 percent compared to the same month of 2021, and this first makes us suspicious of what the International Monetary Fund considered that the high prices in most parts of the Arab region began to appear. For months, as a result of the economic closure and then the repercussions of the war in Ukraine, it now constitutes a real test for the ability of central banks in the Arab region to control the runaway inflation.”
Second, the increase in food prices pushed overall inflation in Kuwait to its highest level in three years, as a result of a combination of higher international food prices, partly linked to the depreciation of the US dollar, prolongation of supply chain problems and higher prices by local retailers.
The statement said, “We have always heard in Kuwait that the Kuwait Investment Authority intends to invest in agricultural lands abroad for years,” but nothing has happened.