The Economic Development
Kuwait's economy is based on long, medium and short term planning, freedom of initiatives and social responsibility of the private sector as laid down by the country's Constitution. Figures for 1996 indicate a GDP of KD 9,277.1 million. The main sources of the GDP are oil, manufacturing industries, petrochemicals, foodstuffs, building materials, trade, real estate and communications and transport. Revenues from foreign investments play a vital role as a source of national income and in boosting the state's revenues. Oil revenues contributed KD 4,127.4 million to the GDP i.e. 44.5 percent, while the oil sector as a whole (crude oil and related oil industries) contributed approximately 52.2 percent to the GDP. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has offered many loans and considerable assistance to Arab countries including some African, Asian and other developing nations.
In response to HH the Emir of Kuwait's speech at the UN General Assembly on September 27, 1990, regarding reduction of the debt burden on developing nations, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Development cancelled interest due on its loans to 26 African, 12 Asian and nine Arab Countries.
Kuwait has a solid infrastructure, which has been developed as a result of prudent use of its oil revenues. Its overall road network in 1995 exceeded 4900 kms; its total 1995 electricity power capacity exceeded 6898 megawatts, while its desalination plants produced plants produced 234 million imperial gallons per day and 382,287 telephone lines were installed. More recent figures show significant increases in each of these figures.
Kuwait's leisure facilities include public parks, the Kuwait towers, a fun city, a fun water-park and sharing rinks. These are complemented by first class hotels and service. Statistics from 1996 list 12 high class hotels with 2528 rooms, six of which are five-star hotels with a capacity of 1577 rooms and five first class hotels with 447 rooms. These were occupied by 61,718 visitors for 204,976 nights. Figures for visitors to tourist sites reached 2,531,234 people in 1996.
Kuwait prides itself on being the first country in OPEC to move beyond its national boundaries in oil exploration by establishing the Kuwaiti Company for Overseas Petroleum Exploration, and by investing in overseas oil companies such as the Santa Fe Oil Company. This enabled a dramatic extension of production, operational and marketing flexibility, increasing the significance of Kuwaiti national petroleum companies which also purchased or established several major oil refineries and distribution centers overseas, particularly in western Europe. The process helped Kuwait achieve integration in upstream and downstream oil operations, making it less reliant on the services of third parties.
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