Income up despite economic tensions

KUWAIT CITY, May 16: In spite of the global economic tensions witnessed by the world’s largest economies during the past year, Kuwait succeeded in increasing investment income by about 7.1% or 7.98 billion dinars by the end of 2022, compared to 2021, in which investment income recorded about 7.4 billion dinars, reports Al-Anba daily.

The daily has learned the data of the “investment income” item, which includes direct investment, portfolio investments and other investments, within the balance of payments issued quarterly by the Central Bank of Kuwait, showed that investment income in 2022 achieved about 7.9 billion dinars, and Kuwaiti investment income abroad is divided according to the nature of the investment into 3 main types -- between direct investment, financial portfolio and other investments, which are detailed as follows:

1- Direct investment: It brought a return of 3 billion dinars, and that investment is concentrated in shares and direct ownership in companies and factories in all economic sectors.

2- Investments of the financial portfolio: It brought a return of about 4.5 billion dinars, and the investment in the financial portfolio is concentrated specifically in bonds and stocks.

3- Other investments: The returns were about 1.6 billion dinars, and that value represents the rest of the indirect investments from partnerships and participation in non-financial projects and investments.

Kuwait invests in more than 125 economies around the world and is managed by more than 125 foreign investment managers and more than 50 investment authorizations. The Kuwait Investment Authority studies the areas in which it intends to invest and examines many financial, economic and regulatory factors and indicators, including the size of the economy, economic growth rates and the ease of doing business index; granted tax facilities and exit strategies from financial markets.

The investments of the Kuwait Investment Authority do not aim to influence the management of the companies in whose shares it invests, so that the share of its investments in the company does not exceed more than 10% of the total, and indirect management is carried out by external investment managers, and the proportion of funds constitutes about 70% of the total.