Kuwait overcomes global financial crisis fallout – Minister
Kuwait – Kuwaiti Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali said here Tuesday his country had already overcome the negative implications of the global financial crisis.In a speech, delivered on his behalf by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Khalifa Hamada at the Country Risk Conference, the minister affirmed the strength of the economic and financial conditions of Kuwait and other GCC member states.
The Conference, co-organized by the Credit Alliance member Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) and Coface, is placed under the patronage of Al-Shimali.The conference comes at a time when more efforts need to be exerted to wriggle out of more ramifications of the global financial crisis, which still overshadow global economy, he said.
In spite of such negative reflections and concomitant impacts, including falling oil prices, and the volatile political situation in the region, Coface, in its 2009 report, underlines that Middle East countries have shown good resilience during the crisis and confirms the A2 rating of Kuwait, he added.
The A2 rating of Kuwait is mainly based on key oil and financial resources, as well as its strategic alliances with main powers in the world, notably the US, UK and France, the minister noted.He stressed the importance of recommendations mentioned in the report, mainly the necessity of going ahead with reforms with a view to diversifying Kuwaiti national economy, reactivating the investments of the private sector and improvement of public services in order to achieve economic growth rates.
The Kuwaiti government is well aware of the country’s economic challenges so it is exerting intensive efforts to create the congenial and stable political atmosphere for meeting such challenges, Al-Shimali added.He cited the recently approved development plan, which envisions the spending of over KD 30 billion (approximately USD 104 billion) between 2010 and 2014, as a relevant goal.
For his part, Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Dhaman) Director General Fahad Al-Ibrahim stressed the significance of the conference as aiming to draw the attention of the region’s countries to exert more efforts to improve their investment climate.He also stressed the important role of credit rating for states with their diverse economic sectors in giving a clear-cut picture and international certificate to potential investors on the economic, political and financial situations of Arab countries.
The financial and economic policies of countries, together with the prevalent political and social conditions there, have direct impacts on their rating, he said.
This has something to do with the deals of these countries at world markets and costs of export and investment credit, he pointed out.He hailed the Country Risk Conference as a good opportunity to set out future outlooks and to discuss suggested financial and economic policies for the region’s nations.
Finally, Jerome Cazes – CEO of Coface – reaffirmed the strong links between Coface and its partners in the area and presents the ambitions of Coface as a credit rating agency in the region.
The Country Risk Conference, organized each year by Coface in Paris on an international level during the month of January, is followed by a regional one in key economic capitals worldwide.
