The French newspaper Le Figaro described Kuwait as a “sleeping giant”, saying it possesses enormous economic capabilities, great human potential, and other ingredients, but largely remains untapped and cited several reasons.
In a report prepared by its envoy, prominent journalist specializing in Middle East affairs, George Malbrunot, Le Figaro touched on many of these untapped potentials, stressing that “Kuwait possesses one of the largest sovereign funds in the world, but the movement of development is slow,” noting that “Kuwait has one of the largest sovereign funds in the world calling it the only Gulf country that has an elected parliament since 1962, a fierce press, and opinion bureaus and despite this democracy, Kuwait revolves around stagnation and lags behind its Gulf neighbors, reports a local Arabic daily.
The newspaper says Kuwait investments of more than 25 billion Euros in France, saved the coffers of Paris in 1982, noting that extremist currents resist the desired development, and the government’s submission to it is a problem that is looking for a solution.
The newspaper criticized the failure to achieve the desired developmental and economic boom, as Kuwait fell from the second place among the Gulf economies to the “fourth” during the past 15 years, pointing to a number of reasons behind the slow development, including political conflicts and aggravation between Parliament and the government, as well as succumbing to extremists and other reasons and pointed out that Kuwait is in a state of stagnation, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been involved in implementing structural changes.
Youssef Al-Ghoussein of the Center for Studies Roconisons explained in his interview with the newspaper’s envoy that everyone remembers that Kuwait was the first country in the world to establish a sovereign fund in 1953, which is the Kuwait Investment Authority.
The Kuwait Investment Authority owns more than $720 billion, and it is the third sovereign fund in the world after the Norwegian and Chinese sovereign funds. However, this did not prevent – according to “Le Figaro” – the country’s decline during the past 15 years from the second place in the ranking of the Gulf economies to the fourth place.
Kuwait, which is a rentier country with distinction, has many capabilities, especially human capital, which is considered among the highest qualified in the Gulf. Foreigners are very rare in managing the sovereign fund, unlike Saudi Arabia and Qatar.