Standard & Poor's Forecasts Stability for Kuwait Economy

JAMADA ALAWWAL 14, 1440 AH SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2019 Max 15º 28 Pages Min 03º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 17737 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Kuwait air force holds show at Indian opposition stages Bauhaus design turns 100 as Fortune favors Liverpool in 39Ali Al-Salem Airbase in Salmi giant rally to oust Modi 22 disputes over its legacy churn 28 7-goal thriller against Palace Standard & Poor’s forecasts stability for Kuwait economy Agency affirms state’s AA/A-1+ rating • Balance sheets to remain strong KUWAIT: The government of Kuwait will fall in oil prices beyond our current expecta- ernment revenues. remain in a substantial net asset position over tions or materially weaker rates of economic “Given the oil production cuts announced the medium term, which should provide a growth. We could also lower the ratings if by OPEC (of which Kuwait is a member) in safety buffer against external shocks, Kuwait’s domestic political stability deterio- Dec 2018, we have lowered our 2019 GDP according to Standard & Poor’s Financial rated, or if regional geopolitical risks were to growth forecast for Kuwait to 1.0 percent (we Services LLC (S&P). “We are affirming our significantly escalate. forecast 3.2 percent previously). Despite the ‘AA/A-1+’ long- and short-term foreign and “The ratings on Kuwait remain supported economic diversification and reform efforts local currency sovereign credit ratings on by the country’s high levels of accumulated announced by the government, we expect Kuwait. The outlook is stable,” it said in a fiscal and external buffers. The ratings are progress to be only gradual. This carries freshly released report. constrained by the concentrated nature of the downside risks if oil prices turn out weaker The report continues: “The stable outlook than expected. The oil sector directly com- reflects our expectation that Kuwait’s public prises over 50 percent of the country’s GDP, and external balance sheets will remain although if other related activities are taken strong over the next two years, primarily into account, that proportion is even higher. underpinned by sizable foreign assets accu- “As of 2017, Kuwait was the world’s ninth- mulated in the country’s sovereign wealth largest crude oil producer, with the seventh- fund. This should partially mitigate risks relat- largest oil reserves. Assuming current pro- ed to Kuwait’s undiversified oil-dependent economy and comparatively weak institution- duction levels, Kuwait’s total proven oil economy, and rising geopolitical tensions in al settings compared with those of non- reserves are equivalent to about 100 years. the region. regional peers in the same rating category. Given this high concentration, Kuwait’s eco- “We could raise the ratings if wide-rang- Kuwait derives around 55 percent of GDP, nomic performance will remain largely deter- ing political and economic reforms enhanced more than 90 percent of exports, and about mined by oil industry trends. We assume oil institutional effectiveness and improved long- 90 percent of fiscal receipts from hydrocar- prices (Brent) will average $55 per barrel BEIRUT: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al- term economic diversification, although we bon products. Given this high reliance on the (/bbl) over 2019-2022, which is lower than Hamad Al-Sabah is received by Lebanese Prime Minister designate Saad Al-Hariri think such a scenario is unlikely over the fore- oil sector, we view Kuwait’s economy as undi- our previous oil price projections for these yesterday after he arrived to attend the 4th Arab Development, Economic and cast horizon. We could lower the ratings on versified. Kuwait’s economy remains almost years. This is also lower than the average Social Summit. — KUNA (See Page 2) Kuwait if we observed a sustained decline in entirely dependent on oil, which accounts for 2018 Brent price of $72/bbl. economic wealth levels, for example due to a an estimated 90 percent of exports and gov- Continued on Page 24 the charred, blackened corpses at the Mexico fuel scene, which was guarded by soldiers as the pungent smell of fuel hung in the air. Fuel traffickers had punctured the Real progress pipeline blast pipeline, leading hundreds of people including families to swarm the area, needed at new collecting the gasoline in jerrycans and kills at least 66 buckets when the blast occurred Friday afternoon, witnesses said. Video taken Trump-Kim meet TLAHUELILPAN, Mexico: An explo- in the aftermath showed screaming sion and fire in central Mexico killed at people fleeing the scene as an enor- least 66 people after hundreds con- mous fire lit up the night sky in SEOUL: The planned second summit between US verged on the site of an illegal fuel-line Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, north of President Donald Trump and North Korean leader tap to gather gasoline, officials said, Mexico City. “I went just to see what Kim Jong Un needs to make tangible progress on during a government crackdown on fuel was happening, and then the explosion Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons if it is to avoid being theft. “The toll that we have until a few happened. I rushed to help people,” dismissed as “reality TV”, analysts say. Their summit minutes ago... is 66 dead, while 76 are Fernando Garcia, 47, told AFP. “I had to in Singapore in June was undoubtedly historic, the injured,” the Hidalgo state governor, claw through pieces of people who had first ever encounter between the leaders of two Omar Fayad, said yesterday. Forensic already been burned to bits.” TLAHUELILPAN, Mexico: A fire rages behind the bodies of burned victims at the nations whose forces - backed by arrays of allies specialists in white suits worked among Continued on Page 24 scene of a massive blaze triggered by a leaky pipeline early yesterday. — AFP from each side of the Cold War - fought each other to a standstill decades ago. The world’s media were transfixed as the pair shook hands on the verandah of a historic hotel and On, a separate grassroots coalition that strolled together in its grounds, before Trump held Women march also grew from the original march, coordi- an hour-long press conference extraordinary even nated hundreds of marches in cities such by his own unique standards. But the agreement as Boston, Houston, Baltimore and Denver. they signed was long on rhetoric and short on in US cities for Leaders of both groups said they would details, with Kim pledging to work towards the use this year’s marches to push policy “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”. 3rd straight year related to raising the minimum wage, Progress has since stalled as Pyongyang and access to reproductive and healthcare and Washington disagree over what that means and how voting rights, among other issues. They to achieve it, with each accusing the other of drag- WASHINGTON: Women marched in hun- are aiming to mobilize women to vote ging their feet and acting in bad faith. Critics say dreds of US cities and overseas yesterday ahead of the 2020 elections, when Trump North Korea has made no concrete commitments to mark the second anniversary of demon- is expected to be the Republican nominee and is unlikely to surrender its atomic arsenal, while strations that drew millions of protesters for president. Washington’s policy of maintaining pressure through to the streets the day after Republican “There is definitely huge, huge focus on isolation and sanctions has left Pyongyang seething. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in the 2020 elections,” said March On’s Even so the White House said Friday Trump Jan 2017. Women’s March, a national non- Natalie Sanchez, an organizer of the 2017 would meet the North Korean leader again “near the profit organization that evolved from the Boston Women’s March who is also with end of February”. While no decision has been made initial Washington march, again hosted its March Forward Massachusetts, which on location, a Vietnamese government source told main event in Washington, with hundreds organized Saturday’s march there. NEW YORK: Protesters march during the Women’s Unity Rally at Foley Square AFP that “logistical preparations” were under way of “sister” marches in other cities. March Continued on Page 24 yesterday. — AFP to host the summit, most likely in the capital Hanoi or coastal city of Danang. Continued on Page 24 of marine biology she even has her own Giant great Twitter account “Deep Blue came up and brushed up against the boat, maybe she’s pregnant, white swims maybe she’s itchy?” Ramsey wrote on Instagram. “We spent the entire day with with divers her till the sun went down.” Ramsey, a shark conservationist, posted pictures and video of the encounter to show LOS ANGELES: Divers in Hawaii were great whites are not “mindless mon- watching a school of tiger sharks feast on sters”. “We need sharks and yet, perhaps a dead whale on Tuesday when a much because of the negative and inaccurate bigger fish appeared out of the depths. A way they are portrayed in mass media 20-foot-long great white shark, believed many people do not care that they are to be one of the largest in the world, swam being killed at a rate of 70,000,000- right at the divers then began to check out 100,000,000 every year!” she said, crit- their boats, said Ocean Ramsey, one of the icizing the mass slaughter of the crea- SINGAPORE: In this file photo taken on June 12, 2018, marine biologists in the water at the time. tures to make shark-fin soup. US President Donald Trump meets North Korea’s leader The great white in question is named The great white is uncommon in Kim Jong Un at the start of their US-North Korea sum- Deep Blue and has been videoed before.

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