Mubasher: Standard and Poor's (S&P) has kept Kuwait’s credit rating at ‘AA’ with a stable outlook, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Saturday.
The global rating agency stated that it could raise that rating if Kuwait conducted a broad political and economic reforms.
The Kuwaiti economy is still dependent on oil, given that oil revenue constitutes 90% of the country’s exports and government revenue, S&P said in a report.
“The agency forecast muted economic growth this year, given the recent extension of OPEC+ agreement to cut oil production, and only modest non-oil growth providing ongoing geopolitical tension,” as per KUNA.
The stable outlook reflected S&P’s expectation that Kuwait's public and external balance sheets would remain strong over the next two years, supported by the GCC country’s sizable foreign assets accumulated in its sovereign wealth fund.
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).
