KUWAIT CITY: A parliament packed with lawmakers who oppose wage cuts and taxes, and who want to keep Kuwait’s sumptuous welfare state intact, is threatening the government’s attempts to close a gaping budget deficit.
Opposition candidates won about 24 out of 50 seats last month in a parliamentary election seen by Kuwaitis as a referendum on austerity measures aimed at dealing with the 2016/17 shortfall, forecast at 9.5 billion dinars ($31 billion).
Citizens of the Gulf country, one of the world’s wealthiest, have bristled at recent fuel subsidy cuts and utility price hikes that the government pushed through the outgoing parliament with relative ease.
But the new lawmakers say they are determined to protect basic services and jobs in a public sector, which employs more than 90 percent of workers.
Governments across the Gulf – also trying to rein in spending in an era of flagging oil prices – are watching closely as the government tries to pass more reforms, including taxing corporate profits and cutting government wages and benefits.
Kuwait’s opposition, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood, liberals, tribal representatives and independents, say the government should trim other costs first, including what it calls “wasted expenses” such as an overseas medical allowance.
By law, Kuwaitis, who enjoy the fourth highest gross domestic product per capita in the world, can travel abroad for specialised medical treatment at the expense of the government.
Opposition figures elected to the assembly say the allowance, which costs an estimated 760 million dinars a year, is used to line the pockets of people with ties to government.
“The assembly wants the government to rationalise unnecessary expenditures before heading to the citizen,” investment fund Kuwait Farabi’s CEO, Fouad al-Hadlaq, said.
