Results tagged “Economy”

Saad Al-Barrak, MTC

• The Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry - publicly and privately - have been saying it for years.

• The Parliament has been saying it for years.

• Reformers and Economists (i.e. Jassim Al-Saadoun) have been saying it for years.

• Kuwait companies have been saying it for years.

• Foreign corporations have been saying it for years.

And now a major multinational corporation (MTC) is moving its headquarters out of Kuwait. Here's a refreshingly candid and direct statement by Saad Al-Barrak, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, MTC:

"The Kuwaiti business environment repels investment and the country's laws are not good for a financial hub,"

Ouch.

Who is next? Agility? Global Investment?

Source: Arabian Business.

Technorati : Kuwait Commerce

According to the World Economic Forum's "network readiness index" Kuwait dropped eight places from number 46 to 54. The UAE (29) led the way in terms of information and technology among the Gulf countries, with Qatar (36) making the most inroads this year, but Bahrain (50) and others suffered as well (LINK).

Kuwait is now the lowest ranked among the Gulf countries.

Click HERE for Country Rankings.

Click HERE for WEF's Global Information Technology Report.

An excerpt:

The Gulf Arab countries may be rich, but when it comes to exploiting technology to be more competitive, they're falling behind rivals in Asia, Europe and Africa.

The Gulf countries consume a lot of technology: Internet and mobile phone penetration is high. But several factors pull down their scores, including poor educational systems. There's also a shortage of scientists and engineers. And bureaucracy is suffocating while judicial independence is lacking.

The Arab technological slide sends worrying signals about the future of the currently booming economies, which include Dubai, now considered the fastest-growing city in the world.

Adoption of the latest technology is critical for fast-developing countries like those in the Persian Gulf, where leaders are trying to diversify beyond oil and gas exports.

Gulf investors are too interested in a quick profit, and they're not building institutions that allow technology to flourish.

The technological slide has allowed poorer countries to leapfrog the wealthy Gulf states. For instance, in 2006 Mexico and Jamaica jumped ahead of Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which are far wealthier on a per-capita basis.

Kuwait's poor performance stems from its handouts of government jobs to Kuwaitis. The practice has diverted money from education and infrastructure, said Kuwaiti economist Jassem al-Saadoun.

An interesting Kuwait Times Article on the obstacles of importing into Kuwait.

Here are a few highlights:

Companies trying to import technology, software and hardware into Kuwait face a mountain of bureaucratic obstacles...

The cost of importing a particular product varies. The time a product will be cleared by customs varies. The process can take days, weeks or longer and many importers won't know the final cost until they have bills in hand...

...According to the report, that has surveyed business people from the 175 countries ranked, the preparation of 11 documents for import in Kuwait takes 14 days. The customs clearance and technical control take another five days to complete. Another four days are needed for ports and terminal handling procedure, the report claims, in addition to four days allocated for inland transportation and handling.

Since the abysmal summer water and electricity crisis we keep hearing of Ministry of Energy tenders, rejected bids, companies withdrawing from the tender, disorganization, corruption within the Ministry and so forth.

Forget the Tender Committee, forget the Ministry of Energy, forget the local agents and representatives, forget the bureaucracy and corruption. We need the government of Kuwait to follow what Dubai is doing concerning upgrading its power needs and we need the government of Kuwait to hire the best people and make the deal.

We need leadership now. Not committees, discussion and kick-backs.

Shuweihat Power Plant - Abu Dhabi, UAE.

From the Reuters report:

International companies which have pre-qualified to bid for one of the largest independent water and power projects in the United Arab Emirates have nominated their contractors for the plan, a magazine reported. Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the UAE federation, which is building the $3 billion project known as Fujairah 2, pre-qualified at least 20 international developers in November for the bids which are due on March 29. "All the prospective developer bidders have now nominated their contractors for the 2,000 megawatt power island and 130 million gallons per day desalination plant, although several have still to confirm their bank groups," the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported in its latest edition. MEED said Belgium's Suez Energy International had nominated Germany's Siemens and Italy's Fisia Italimpianti as its nominated contractors. Singapore's SembCorp had selected GE Energy of the Unites States and South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. The developer group of Dubai-based AES Oasis and Japan's Sumitomo Corp had nominated South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co and Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corporation. The team of Britain's International Power and Japan's Marubeni Corporation had picked Paris-based Alstom Power and France's Sidem.

The Cabinet assigned Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy on Sunday to take necessary measures for building new electrical power plants to cover the country's demand.

In their regular weekly meeting presided by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, ministers reviewed a report prepared by the ministerial economic committee on the country's demand for electricity in the summers of 2007 and 2008 and necessary precautions and emergency procedures that needed to be taken in this regard.

They also reviewed steps taken for implementing these recommendations as well as how to overcome obstacles that were faced during the process.

I would like you to note the words in the article: reviewed, assigned, committee, necessary precautions etc. Not exactly assertive words are they?

It's January 2007 now. There are three Months left before the expected Kuwaiti heatwave hits us. Now whose opinion would you respect? The Tender Committee? The Kuwaiti Cabinet? The Ministry of Energy? They'd pick the cheapest tender and overall worse deal for the country.

I'll take the opinion of Britain's International Power or Suez Energy International or the other specialized entities in determining what is the best, most effective technology to suit our power needs, not some Kuwaiti biased entity with an eye on some 'pay off' down the road (don't tell me I'm overtly negative or exaggerating; after all, according to the Kuwait Audit Bureau, we just lost track of One Billion Kuwaiti Dinars in oil revenue, but that's another story).

HH The Prime Minister - based on what I hear and on my gut feeling (and I do trust my instincts) - is a reformer; the man wants to make a positive difference, but the problem here is the system: our antiquated, bureaucratic, slow as molasses, corrupt, gridlocked cobweb of civil affairs hell.

The UAE almost always picks the best and rarely cut corners. They do the research. They bring in the expertise. They make the decision. They then build it. And most of all, they maintain it. I respect that. Kuwait is too busy attending insipid Arab and Third World conferences concerning the Environment, IT, Water and Power etc, signing memorandums of understanding that will never benefit us: the blind leading the blind, indeed.

Indonesia eager to draw Kuwaiti investments (KUNA)

Jordanian investment authority to open bureau in Kuwait soon (KUNA)

Egypt targets Kuwaiti investments; Both countries facing common interests (KUNA)

Sudanese Finance Minister visits Kuwait to attract investments

Algeria lures investments from Kuwait (Kuwait Times)

I have no problem with Kuwait - through KIA or other entities - investing in foreign countries.

But as long as others don't invest here; as long as we are not an attractive investment locale, then we will never truly be a successful state.

It's all over the wires now (LINK):

"The one million citizens of Kuwait, where government financial assets have topped $166bn, are to receive a grant of 200 dinars ($690) each, the government announced on Sunday.

"In accordance with directives by the emir, the cabinet decided to provide all Kuwaiti citizens with a grant of 200 dinars each," state minister for cabinet affairs Ismail al-Shatti said after the cabinet weekly meeting".

I have a suggestion: How about the government keeps its meagre KD 200 and offer us the following:

* Uninterrupted water.
* Strong infrastructure.
* Decent health care and hospitals in all areas.
* Eliminate or lessen bureacracy.
* Shares to all citizens in newly privatized companies.
* A "Vision" for the future of Kuwait and its citizens.
* Decent jobs without glass ceilings to young people.
* Clean up the environment and limit toxic and environmental waste from oil companies and factories.

I'll take any of the above goals as opposed to getting KD 200 every few years while the country makes billions off oil unable to efficiently spend or nurture the revenue.

Oh, I almost forgot, the public would also appreciate stable internet that doesn't "break" days or weeks on end (I can't even imagine how financial and public institutions are coping with this).

According to a Reuters article The International Monetary Fund has warned Kuwait about its future economic growth. Despite a strong increase of 7.5% in its GDP in 2004-05, low inflation and a budget surplus of $24bn for the fiscal year just ended, the IMF has urged Kuwait to undertake key structural reforms. A report published on the IMF's web site this week states that Kuwait needs to encourage a wider role for the private sector in its economy.

An Excerpt:

But the IMF said progress on structural reforms remained slow in the Gulf Arab state. "The authorities have adopted some measures to allow for a broader role of the private sector in the economy but ... implementation of the reform agenda has been slower than expected, in part, due to difficulties in reaching a political consensus," said the report, prepared after talks with Kuwaiti officials.