THE spotlight has returned once again to Kuwait’s longstanding issue of unchecked public spending, a pattern that has contributed to a growing budget deficit and caused cash shortages several times. If we take subsidies as an example, we see that they often reflect a troubling level of randomness. A prime example is food supplies, which are distributed with little regulation or scrutiny, as many of the recipients are not genuinely in need of them.

The average citizen with a limited income does not really need this excess of rice, butter, and cheese. What they really need is a salary increase, something that has not happened in over 16 years. In reality, many of those who receive these supplies don’t even use them. Some pass them on to their domestic workers, while others sell them on the black market. Large quantities of these subsidized goods are smuggled abroad or end up as animal feed. When nearly $24 billion is spent annually on subsidies for various items from car fuel to tea, it is a clear sign of wasteful spending and a lack of foresight, and this does not serve the people. When accountability is lacking, the availability of funds only fuels the greed of thieves, and further intensifies their appetite for more. The only solution is to cut off this artery of waste so that the state doesn’t suffer from public finance anemia and end up being forced to borrow at the expense of future generations.

To this day, future generations have not reaped the benefits of their supposed “future generations fund”, as the money from this fund is being spent on development projects in countries around the world except Kuwait. This situation perfectly mirrors the old proverb: “The carpenter’s house door is always broken.” On the other hand, who truly benefits from the cheap electricity tariffs, which lead to a chronic crisis every summer? Is it the low-paid junior employees, or the owners of residential buildings and commercial complexes who offer electricity for free to tenants while pocketing millions of dinars each month without contributing anything to the government? Don’t government institutions, public places, and even mosques, which leave their lights and air conditioning running 24/7, consume the largest share of electricity? Meanwhile, citizens are told to rationalize their consumption. Who is responsible for this? Isn’t it the Council of Ministers, which has yet to regulate these matters, despite the fact that all it would take is a simple administrative decision? The health sector is one of the areas suffering from random waste.

In the past, we were plagued by a group known as “Service MPs” who turned overseas medical treatment into touristic trips for select individuals, all driven by electoral motives. According to global healthcare indicators, Kuwait today ranks low - 73rd in 2024 - and eighth among Arab countries. Tunisia, Lebanon, and Oman have surpassed Kuwait on this index, despite the Ministry of Health’s high budget for the 2025/2026 fiscal year, which amounts to KD 2.7 billion ($9 billion). In contrast, the Tunisian Ministry of Health’s budget stands at just $1.25 billion, yet it outperformed Kuwait in healthcare outcomes. Is this reasonable?

There should be real health insurance, not just a formal one, that covers all Kuwaiti citizens and residents, including visitors who pay the insurance premium along with their visa fees, as is done in Schengen countries. This ongoing waste does not end here. There are also exceptional salaries, a practice unique to Kuwait. While it is positive that the government is reconsidering these exceptional salaries, it must also work on eliminating the issue of random recruitment, which some former MPs used to promote and it contributed to the growing deficit in the public budget. All of this reduces the chances for increasing the gross domestic product, which requires strategic processes to eliminate waste and redirect resources into the industrial and agricultural sectors, as well as infrastructure development. If KD one billion were allocated annually to raise the salaries of low-income earners, rather than being wasted on random subsidies, it would benefit the public budget, and Kuwait would not need to resort to borrowing.