Yearbook 2009
Kuwait. In the recent parliamentary elections on 16 May, women were elected for the first time. Former Health Minister Masuma al-Mubarak, women’s rights activist Rula Dashti and the two professors Aseel al-Awadhi and Salwa al-Jassar were each given their mandate. Islamist groups lost eight seats and remained at 16, but still had great influence as they allied themselves with clan-based members. The Shiite members increased from five to nine.
According to countryaah, the background to the recent election was the power struggle between the government and parliament that has been going on since 2008. Prime Minister Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and his government had resigned on March 16 to escape the opposition’s plans to inquire al-Sabah in parliament, among other things. his economic policy. The Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir as-Sabah, had then dissolved parliament and announced new elections. In anticipation of this, the government continued to rule as an expedition minister, pushing through an economic stimulus package worth US $ 5.15 billion. The package’s loan guarantees and other measures aimed to help banks and other financial institutions through the ongoing global financial crisis. After the election, the Emir re-elected al-Sabah at the Prime Minister’s post.
Six members of a terrorist group with links to the al-Qaeda network were reported in August to have been arrested, accused of planning attacks on, among other things, the Kuwaiti Security Service headquarters and the US base Arifran south of Kuwait City, where 15,000 US troops were stationed.
37 women and six children were killed when a party tent caught fire at a wedding party in the city of al-Jahra on August 15. The groom’s ex-wife reportedly admitted that she brought the fire.
Economy
| Inflation rate | 1.50% |
| Unemployment rate | 1.1% |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | $ 289,700,000,000 |
| GDP growth rate | -3.30% |
| GDP per capita | $ 65,800 |
| GDP by sector | |
| Agriculture | 0.40% |
| Industry | 58.70% |
| Service | 40.90% |
| State budget | |
| Revenue | 60.29 billion |
| Expenditure | 35.9 billion |
| Proportion of the population below the national poverty line | – |
| Distribution of household income | |
| Top 10% | k. A. |
| Lower 10% | k. A. |
| Industrial production growth rate | 1.60% |
| Investment volume | 29.6% of GDP |
| National debt | 20.60% of GDP |
| Foreign exchange reserves | $ 33,130,000,000 |
| Tourism | 2013 |
| Visitors | 307,000 |
| Revenue | $ 615,000,000 |