Kuwait’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalifa Abdullah Al-Ajeel stated on Tuesday that regulatory and legislative reforms have intensified the competitiveness of the Kuwaiti economy and enhanced the attractiveness of its capital market to foreign investors.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Al-Ajeel reported that the foreign investors were not new to Kuwait, that a sequence of government-initiated reforms had explicitly led to the growth of the Kuwait Stock Exchange and the strengthening of investor confidence.
The minister said that foreign trading has been occurring at an average of about 9 percent per year in the market, and the value of foreign ownership has also risen by about 18 percent in the last two years, showing confidence in the Kuwaiti economy.
He further noted that the development of the Kuwait capital market was being undertaken in a holistic manner, which began with infrastructure development and regulatory changes, including the introduction of new market instruments as well as financial tools, and also improvement in the technological capacity.
Al-Ajeel asserted that Kuwait is still making progress in legislative reforms to facilitate investments by investors by harmonizing licensing processes and revising digital trade regulations in line with international best practices.
He also demanded increased integration between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, such as the implementation of compatible risk-hedging strategies in response to global political and economic uncertainty.
The minister indicated that the reforms are part of an even greater plan to facilitate the long-term inflows of investments, enhance the resilience of the markets, and establish the financial markets in Kuwait as a significant contributor to sustainable economic growth.
