Mubasher: While the growth of the global economy became more and more subject to many questions and doubts, the Kuwaiti economy maintained its stability, achieving a slight margin of improvement.
Kuwait’s GDP grew by 2.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, while the non-oil economy is expected to grow by an average of 2.5% by year-end, according to a report released on Saturday by the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).
“Although the need for macroeconomic and structural reforms to boost long-term non-oil growth and strengthen the public finances persists, in our view the economy is reasonably well-placed to cope with any moderate slowdown in global growth and consequently oil prices over coming quarters,” the report said.
Oil prices rose in the second quarter of 2019, supported by the output cut agreed upon by the OPEC+ group of oil producers, along with the geopolitical tensions, on top of which the mutual threats between Iran and the US.
Earlier in July, OPEC agreed to keep oil production curbs in place until March 2020 as the producer club’s members managed to reach a consensus to buoy crude prices.
The NBK expects that Kuwaiti oil output will reach 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) this year.
The oil output of Kuwait declined by 20,000 bpd to 2.69 million bpd in June, according to the OPEC monthly report.
